Belgium is essentially a bi-lingual country divided into the Dutch Dutch ( Nederlands ) is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language and over 5 million people as a second language. Most native speakers live in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, with smaller groups of speakers in parts of France, Germany and several former Dutch colonies. It is closely related to other (Flemish Flemish is derived from the name of the County of Flanders, from Middle Dutch vlāmisch, vlemesch. The name of the County of Flanders itself was first attested in Ghent, in 1237, and etymologically it derives from ‘Flandr’, which is Old Dutch roughly meaning ‘that which is flooded/flooded area’; compare Common Germanic *flōðuz, ")-speaking north and the French French is a Romance language spoken as a first language by about 136 million people worldwide. Around 190 million people speak French as a second language, and an additional 200 million speak it as an acquired foreign language. French speaking communities are present in 57 countries and territories. Most native speakers of the language live in-speaking south. There is also a small community of German German (Deutsch, [ˈdɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Globally, German is spoken by approximately 120 million native speakers and also by about 80 million non-native speakers speakers in the border region with Germany. Belgium is further a federal country made up of three regions (the Flemish Region The Flemish Region (Dutch: Vlaams Gewest ) is one of the three official regions of the Kingdom of Belgium—alongside the Walloon Region and the Brussels-Capital Region. It occupies the northern part of Belgium and has a surface area of 13,522 km² (44.29% of Belgium), the Walloon Region Wallonia (French: Wallonie, German: Wallonie, Dutch: Wallonië (help·info), Walloon: Waloneye) is the predominantly French-speaking southern region of Belgium. It makes up 55% of the territory of Belgium and includes about 33% of its population. Walloon Region is the name given to the regional government of Wallonia. Most of Wallonia, along with and the Brussels-Capital Region Brussels (French: Bruxelles, pronounced [bʁysɛl] ; Dutch: Brussel, pronounced [ˈbrʏsəl] (help·info)), officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region (French: Région de Bruxelles-Capitale, Dutch: Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (help·info)), is the de facto capital city of the European Union (EU) and the largest urban area in) and three language communities (the Flemish Community Members of the Flemish Parliament who were elected in Brussels region, have no right to vote on Flemish regional affairs. They can only vote on community affairs, since affairs concerning their region are governed by the Brussels Parliament (Dutch-speaking), the French (i.e., French-speaking) Community The French Community of Belgium is one of the three official communities in Belgium along with the Flemish Community and the German speaking Community. Although its name could suggest that it is a community of French citizens in Belgium, it is not. The French Community of Belgium is rather not a group of people or inhabitants, but an official and the German-speaking Community The German-speaking Community of Belgium is one of the three federal communities in Belgium. It is the main part of the so-called East Cantons (German: Ost-Kantone) of Belgium. It has an area of 854 km², and a population of over 73,000, of which almost 100% are German speaking (traditionally Ripuarian-speaking). This is about 0.73% of Belgium's). Due to these linguistic and political divisions it is difficult to speak of a national, unified Cinema of Belgium. It would be more appropriate to talk about Flemish Flemish is derived from the name of the County of Flanders, from Middle Dutch vlāmisch, vlemesch. The name of the County of Flanders itself was first attested in Ghent, in 1237, and etymologically it derives from ‘Flandr’, which is Old Dutch roughly meaning ‘that which is flooded/flooded area’; compare Common Germanic *flōðuz, " or Dutch Dutch ( Nederlands ) is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language and over 5 million people as a second language. Most native speakers live in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, with smaller groups of speakers in parts of France, Germany and several former Dutch colonies. It is closely related to other-language cinema of Belgium and Walloon or French French is a Romance language spoken as a first language by about 136 million people worldwide. Around 190 million people speak French as a second language, and an additional 200 million speak it as an acquired foreign language. French speaking communities are present in 57 countries and territories. Most native speakers of the language live in-language cinema of Belgium.
Contents |
History
Early history
While the invention of the cinématographe by the French France (pronounced /ˈfrænts/ frantss or /ˈfrɑːnts/ frahnts; French pronunciation (help·info): [fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, pronounced: [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a state in Western Europe with several of its overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Lumière brothers The Lumière brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas and Louis Jean (5 October 1864, Besançon, France – 6 June 1948, Bandol), were among the earliest filmmakers. (Appropriately, "lumière" translates as "light" in English.) is widely regarded as the birth of cinema, a number of developments in photography preceded the advent of film. Among the people pioneering work on animation devices was a Belgian professor of experimental physics Joseph Plateau. Plateau, who was active at the Ghent University Ghent University is one of the three large Flemish universities. It is located in the historic town of Ghent in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking (northern) part of Belgium. It has 32,000 students and 7,100 Staff members invented an early stroboscopic device in 1836, the "phenakistiscope". It consisted of two disks, one with small equidistant radial windows, through which the viewer could look, and another containing a sequence of images. When the two disks rotated at the correct speed, the synchronization of the windows and the images created an animated effect. The projection of stroboscopic photographs, creating the illusion of motion, eventually led to the development of cinema.
The first public projection in Belgium took place on March 1, 1896 at the Kings Gallery in Brussels Brussels (French: Bruxelles, pronounced [bʁysɛl] ; Dutch: Brussel, pronounced [ˈbrʏsəl] (help·info)), officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region (French: Région de Bruxelles-Capitale, Dutch: Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest (help·info)), is the de facto capital city of the European Union (EU) and the largest urban area in. In the following years there was a surge in activity, initially dominated by the French industrial Charles Pathé. One of his assistants, Alfred Machin founded the first production studio in 1910; some of his films are still preserved in the Royal Filmarchive in Brussels. The first Belgian movie producer was Hippolyte De Kempeneer, who produced several interesting films until his studio burned down in 1923.
1930 - 1980
The 1930s however saw the first serious attempt at cinema. Several prominent figures such as Charles Dekeukeleire and Henri Storck experimented with new filming techniques and founded the Belgian Documentary School, which was long regarded as one of the highlights of Belgian Cinema. With the advent of sound, directors such as Jan Vanderheyden fully explored the possibilities of the medium, adapting popular literary works such as De Witte of Ernest Claes. De Witte proved to be a pivotal work in the history of Belgian Cinema. The film was a tremendous popular success and would spawn a future remake and a TV series that was widely acclaimed in its own right.
While attempts to produce a serious feature length film were frequently met with difficulty, Belgian animated films Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways. The most common method of presenting animation is as a motion slowly gained a reputation abroad, lead by animators such as Raoul Servais, who won several awards throughout the sixties in a career that culminated with a Golden Palm The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded to competing films at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film. From 1964 to 1974 it was replaced again by the Grand Prix du Festival for best short feature in 1979 for Harpya.
From 1964 on, film could be subsidized by the government, making way for a new generation of filmmakers such as André Delvaux André, Baron Delvaux was a Belgian film director and widely regarded as the founder of the Belgian national cinema. Born 21 March 1926 in Heverlee, he died on 4 October 2002 in Valencia, Spain (De Man Die Zijn Haar Kort Liet Knippen, after Johan Daisne's novel), Roland Verhavert (Pallieter, after Felix Timmermans's novel) and Harry Kümel.
1980 - 2000
Benoît Poelvoorde, a Belgian actor and the star of Man Bites DogThe 1980s however saw a break with the tradition of the 60s and 70s, which was increasingly perceived as too stagy or otherwise preoccupied with rural dramas, giving rise to more personal and gritty filmmaking, led by people such as Marc Didden (Brussels by Night) and Robbe De Hert (Blueberry Hill, Brylcream Boulevard). 1985 however saw the release of the ambitious but spectacular failure De Leeuw van Vlaanderen, written and directed by Hugo Claus Hugo Maurice Julien Claus was a leading Belgian author, writing primarily in Dutch. He was prominent as a novelist, poet, playwright, painter and film director, after Hendrik Conscience's novel. Belgian acclaim in animation continued with an academy award The Academy Award for Animated Short Film is an award which has been given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Academy Awards every year since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931-32, to the present for best animated short in 1987 with A Greek Tragedy, by Nicole van Goethem.
Belgian cinema finally took flight during the 1990s, gaining international prominence with such films as Man Bites Dog (with Benoît Poelvoorde), Daens (directed by Stijn Coninx), Rosetta (directed by the Dardenne brothers) and Toto le Héros (Toto the hero) by Jaco Van Dormael. Toto le Héros gained wide critical acclaim, winning both the César Award The name of the award comes from the sculptor César Baldaccini . The trophies are actual sculptures of the artist. They are considered to be the French equivalent of the American Academy Awards. The 35th Cesar Awards were presented on 27 February 2010 for best foreign film and the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival , founded in 1946, is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious film festivals. The private festival is held annually (usually in May) at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of France. In 2000, Dominique Deruddere's Everybody Famous! was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is given to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States of America with a predominantly non-English dialogue track. Like Rosetta, the Dardenne's 2005 film L'Enfant won the Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded to competing films at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film. From 1964 to 1974 it was replaced again by the Grand Prix du Festival at the Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival , founded in 1946, is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious film festivals. The private festival is held annually (usually in May) at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of France. Other important Walloon directors include Fabrice du Welz, Lucas Belvaux, Bouli Lanners and Vincent Lannoo.
Present
2003 saw the release of Erik Van Looy's stylish detective movie The Alzheimer Case (known internationally as The Memory of a Killer) to wide acclaim. In 2008, Van Looy's follow up thriller Loft opened to rave reviews in Belgium, and had twice as many opening weekend admissions as The Alzheimer Case. The film won several awards and has been in talks for a remake. BenX directed by Nic Balthazar became an international success after its release in 2007 and won multiple awards all over the world. The movie was the Belgian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film in 2007 but failed to receive the actual nomination.
Classic literary works continue to be adapted, in particular the work of Willem Elsschot, and often in coproduction with Dutch The Netherlands (pronounced /ˈnɛðɚləndz/ ; Dutch: Nederland, pronounced [ˈneːdərlɑnt] ( listen)) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in North-West Europe. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany film companies.
Adapations of new literary works are also frequent. The Misfortunates directed by Felix Van Groeningen and released in 2009 is an adaptation of the book De helaasheid der dingen by Flemish writer Dimitri Verhulst. The film won several awards including the Prix Art et Essai at the Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival , founded in 1946, is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious film festivals. The private festival is held annually (usually in May) at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of France's Quinzaine des Réalisateurs and three Golden Starfish Awards at the 17th Hamptons International Film Festival. The film is the official Belgian entry for the 82nd Academy Awards The 82nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2009 and took place March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST (01:30 UTC, March 8). The ceremony was scheduled well after its usual late-February date in 2010 in the category Best Foreign Language Film. Another example of a film adaptation of a modern novel is the 2007 movie Ex Drummer directed by Koen Mortier that was based on the book by Herman Brusselmans of the same name.
Belgium also annually hosts several film festivals, the most important of which are the Flanders International Film Festival-Ghent and the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film.
Belgian films
Main article: List of Belgian films A list of films produced in Belgium ordered by year of release. For an A-Z list of Belgian films see Category:Belgian films- De Witte (1934)
- Toto le Héros (Toto the hero) (1991)
- Man Bites Dog (1992)
- Daens (1993)
- La vie sexuelle des Belges 1950-78 (1994)
- Le Huitième Jour (The Eighth Day) (1996)
- Camping Cosmos Camping Cosmos is the second comedy in the film trilogy The Sexual Life of the Belgians , starring Claude Semal (himself - Tintin [disambiguation needed]), Lolo Ferrari (Miss Vandeputte), Noël Godin (Pierre Mertens), Herman Brusselmans (Herman) and Arno (Harry). The movie's tagline is: Revolution, football, beer and frites. It is an (1996)
- Rosetta (1999)
- Everybody's Famous! (2000)
- The Alzheimer Case (2003)
- L'Enfant (2005)
- BenX (2007)
- Loft A loft can be an upper storey or attic in a building, directly under the roof. Alternatively, it can be a loft apartment which is a large adaptable open space either created or converted for residential use (2008)
- The Misfortunates (2009)
Notable people
Directors
Main article: List of Belgian film directors- Chantal Akerman Chantal Anne Akerman is a Belgian film director and artist. Renowned for a hyperrealist style, Akerman's work seeks to inscribe the "images between the images." Akerman's most famous film Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) exemplifies a dedication to the ellipses of conventional narrative cinema
- Yaël André
- Jean-Jacques Andrien
- Lucas Belvaux
- Edmond Bernhard
- Jean-Marie Buchet
- Jan Bucquoy
- Frans Buyens
- Stijn Coninx
- Dardenne brothers
- Robbe De Hert
- Eric de Kuyper
- Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
- Charles Dekeukeleire
- André Delvaux André, Baron Delvaux was a Belgian film director and widely regarded as the founder of the Belgian national cinema. Born 21 March 1926 in Heverlee, he died on 4 October 2002 in Valencia, Spain
- Paul Demeyer
- Dominique Deruddere
- Marc Didden
- Frederik Du Chau
- Noël Godin
- Marion Hänsel
- Patric Jean
- Yasmine Kassari
- Harry Kümel
- Joachim Lafosse
- Benoît Lamy
- Boris Lehman
- Roland Lethem
- Ernst Moerman
- Koen Mortier
- Picha Jean-Paul "Picha" Walravens, born July 2, 1942 in Brussels, Belgium is a cartoonist and film director
- Maurice Rabinowicz
- Raoul Servais
- Olivier Smolders
- Ben Stassen
- Henri Storck
- Samy Szlingerbaum
- Boris Szulzinger
- Henri d'Ursel
- Patrick Van Antwerpen
- Jan Vanderheyden
- Jaco Van Dormael
- Felix Van Groeningen
- Erik Van Looy
- Roland Verhavert
- Jan Verheyen
- Julien Vrebos
- Thierry Zéno
Actors and actresses
- Antje De Boeck
- Koen De Bouw
- Jan Decleir
- Cécile de France
- Josse De Pauw
- Émilie Dequenne
- Jean-Claude Van Damme Jean-Claude Van Damme is a Belgian martial artist and actor, best known for his martial arts action movies. His most successful films include Bloodsport (1988), Universal Soldier (1992), Hard Target (1993), and Timecop (1994). Due to his physique and his Belgian background, he is known as "The Muscles from Brussels." (lives and performs in USA)
- Dora Van Der Groen
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Bibliography
Mathijs, Ernest (ed.), The cinema of the Low Countries, Wallflower Press, London, 2004.
Mosley, Philip, Split screen: Belgian cinema and cultural identity, State University of New York Press, Albany, 2001.
External links
- Flanders Image- a website dedicated to the Flemish film industry
Categories: Cinema of Belgium
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