Herve Le Phuez

important. For example, Quebec is one of our main targets for our films, but of course, everybody has that American dream so it would be very nice to find an American distributor for some of our titles. As for South America and Asia, it would be amazing, but we know that it’s much more complicated. South America more so for social and economic reasons, which makes it very difficult to get a film distributed there, it’s a lot more difficult to penetrate this market.

What kind of promotional tools, or others, does WBImages employ in order to bring Belgian filmmakers and audiovisual professionals to markets and festivals?

Our principal action is really to play matchmaker with festivals, even though many of the titles already have sales agents, it’s really important for us to bring these titles to markets and festivals because all of the other major film festival delegations are present and we can provide a panorama of sorts for the titles we present. As of now I have a record amount of meetings set up with different festival players, so I’d really like to show them what we have and see if we can garner interest. So our promotional campaign is certainly geared towards that. What we also try to do on a daily basis is to position ourselves as an agency for Belgian professionals to turn to in order to penetrate the international market and to help them prepare for market events. For example, if a producer arrives and doesn’t yet have a sales agent for their title, we’re either going to be able to help bring them to festivals and markets, or help them find a sales agent, which will obviously in turn help them position themselves within the international landscape. Furthermore, we also want to help young graduates who are looking to enter into the audiovisual industry. We want to provide them with the tools they need to better understand the market, who are the sellers? why are workshops important? etc... So, we’re definitely here to promote titles, but also in a way to create an international guide for Belgian audiovisual players. Furthermore, we don’t only want to promote titles, but Belgian talents as well.

Interviewed by Zoe Hofmann

WBI’s 2022 figures & achievements

On-site for 8 different international markets

Organized and promoted the French-speaking Belgian region’s films across over 100 festivals and industry events for projects “Low Budget”, launched by the Cinema Center, which often resulted in films with a different edge and energy. Our line-up contains approximately 20-25 fiction feature films, which, for French-speaking Belgium, is quite a lot.

What are the most profitable markets for Belgian productions?

Of course France is one, but are there others you can think of, any expectations?

I think that European countries are our main target in general with France at the forefront of course. France of course, but also the French-speaking countries, such as Canada, Switzerland, North African territories...So yeah, the French-speaking link is quite

Completed the launch of their own streaming platform, WBstream with a catalog of over 800 films

Renewed partnerships with industry institutions such as screen.brussels, Unifrance, and Film Fund Luxembourg

Inaugurated a ‘Benelux Focus’ during the Fipadoc festival