The Belgian Touch

Movies such as The Inseparables and Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds are the latest examples of Belgium’s rich animation output.

- By Kévin Giraud -

With a dashing line-up for this year’s Annecy Festival, Belgium remains one of the key players in European animation. Boasting three feature films in the official competition produced or co-produced by Belgian studios, including this year’s opener Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds and no less than a dozen short films, one must wonder: Is it just beer, waffles and a tax rebate that lure foreign studios and skilled animators into this tiny country? Or is there truly a “Belgian touch” in contemporary animation?

Delving into the rich history of Belgian animation, dating back to the 1960s, one can already see the main trends that still drive today’s productions. Strong characters, welltrained animators and innovative studios are the foundation of what is now a very active and diversified ecosystem that’s fueled by in- stitutional funding and international investments. According to local press, animation constitutes more than 20 percent of Belgium’s whole cinema industry and each year, Belgian animation schools such as KASK, La Cambre, LUCA, RITCS or HEAJ deliver their loads of 2D or 3D animators with a wide range of content and skill. You can catch a glimpse of their talents in Annecy’s student competition, with no less than four Belgian shorts selected, before they head out to new challenges in the prosperous Belgian animation industry.

To the Moon and Back

Matthieu Zeller, CEO of nWave Studios, relies heavily on those attractive talents to secure the unique success story that has been nWave for almost 30 years. From a tech-driven company focused on 4D and IMAX films, nWave has evolved into one of the biggest animation studios in Brussels. While keeping its one-of-a-kind model, they employ more than 100 people from 40 different nationalities, in the areas of feature film production, co-productions and corporate animation.

“It has been the same since Fly Me to the Moon, when nWave’s founders decided to fund their own production and remain totally independent from outside investors,” says Zeller. “And today, despite this adventurous if not outright mad decision, it’s the same state of mind that drives nWave and our recent films. We do most of our animation in-house, have our own render farm, do our own sales, and our films become available to international buyers late in the production process.”

He adds, “It’s a really distinct approach, but that puts us in a spot where we can produce, sell and manage our own films without any outside ties. It allows us to freely choose our schedules, polish pipelines and create specific and efficient ways of working to reach the top of our game. We now aim to produce one feature film each year, while combining high-level 3D/2D animation and low production costs, and reaching out to new territories for talents and audiences.”

From its Brussels’ headquarter, nWave has expanded to two different sites in the north of France and the Wallonia Region, creating a geographic triangle of large-scale independent production. Schedules are already packed for the years to come, with follow-up films and new stories.

After successes such as The Son of Bigfoot or Chickenhare, and with this years’ selection of The Inseparables at Annecy, the studio keeps getting more and more international recognition while retaining its core values: In-house production, friendship and family-driven narratives aimed at ages seven to 77, and created by a majority of Belgian-trained talents. “Our characters may be different, but our goal remains the same: We create stories with inspiring messages for both children and adults — where adventure, comedy and heart match to provide the most thrilling experience.”

Classic Characters

Strong characters have driven The Smurfs brand and its family-owned company IMPS for the last 65 years. Continuing the heritage of the beloved comicbook series by Belgian author Peyo and well-known TV show first produced in Belgium, The Smurfs came back in full force in 2021 with a brand-new TV series, co-produced by French studio Ellipse Animation and Belgium’s young but flourishing Peyo Productions.

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Keeping such an IP alive all these years was possible essentially thanks to the intelligence of the Peyo family who, from the very first years of exploitation of the classic Hanna-Barbera series, thought of a diversification of the activities linked to the Smurfs,” says Nele De Wilde, executive producer, and François Deglain, producer. “Thanks to an international network of agents, publishing still remains at the historical department of the IMPS company (which is in charge of the brand’s licensing rights) where annual publications, merchandising and marketing ensure the majority of the activities today. Audiovisual distribution holds a powerful position in that scope, as it has continued to sell the classic series all over the world.”

“It’s this global approach that, in 2018, led to the creation of Peyo Productions, a compa- ny dedicated to the production of audiovisual content,” adds De Wilde. “The rights holders now maintain creative control over the brand, which is a major change compared to our previous way of working, selling rights to external partners.” Peyo Productions can thus ensure the quality of the new animated series in its own production environment with top-rated partners, creating one of the top European animated series.

Memorable characters created by dedicated artists were also what put Panique! Productions on the map in the early 2000s. With the international success of A Town Called Panic, stop-motion artists Vincent Patar and Stéphane Aubier brought this production company to new heights, with the help of their producer Vincent Tavier. Today, producers Tavier and Hugo Deghilage carry on this vision and expand the scope of Panique! to other animated and live-action features, while still producing Patar and Aubier’s crazy duos Pic Pic & André and Cowboy & Indian in comedy-packed TV specials. “We choose our films with a real desire to get off the beaten track and want to continue to stir up the small and large screens with exciting and eccentric projects in an increasingly formatted world,” says

Deghilage. “Panique! has been co-producing animation with several other studios for a long time now, and we have created working families and strong ties with partners such as French companies Autour de Minuit, Folivari and Silex Films.”

Fueled by Institutional Support

It’s no secret that Belgian animation, and Belgian cinema in general, is also flourishing because of the major support from institutions. With its complex and intricate political system, Belgium can be both a nightmare and a heaven for producers who can get support from at least three different film funds: Wallimage, Screen Brussels and VAF — each linked to a specific Belgian region. In addition, Belgium offers large tax incentives for companies willing to associate with Belgian producers, technicians or studios. This incentive contributes to a large co-production ecosystem which powers a big part of the industry, animation included. Sepideh Farsi’s La Sirène (The Siren) is one of the latest examples of these European projects benefiting from this state backing. A situation that, in return, helps Belgian talents rise to new heights and international recogni- tion. Stop-motion artists Christine Polis, Emma De Swaef, Kim Keukeleire and Marijke Van Kets are now well-known figures, collaborating with Wes Anderson, animating or adding their contributions to Netflix’s The House or to Foliascope’s long-awaited The Inventor, also presented this year at Annecy.

CG animation studios such as Dreamwall or Belvision produce international content on a daily basis, while young directors and independent ateliers like Zorobabel, Graphoui or Camera-etc conquer the festivals with stunning and heartfelt short films, pushing the envelope towards more diversity and new experiences. It’s that approach that led Steven De Beul’s studio, Beast Animation, to work on the intriguing Coppelia, a live-action/ animated feature co-produced in the Netherlands, mixing ballet and animation into brandnew esthetics while continuing to welcome young stop-motion artists on new projects.

United We Stand

All together, these animation players create a vivid and thriving landscape of schools, independent studios and big production companies, where directors can express themselves in various ways through different formats, from TV to cinemas and back again. You might not see the link between all these wonderful films presented at Annecy’s 2023 edition, but each and every one of them holds that special Belgian Touch — from innovative graffiti-animated student film Passagers by Celia Hardy to the wondrous landscapes of Benoît Chieux’s Sirocco, coproduced by Belgian company Take Five.

If you look closely, you might even spot the iconic Belgian waffle in The Inseparables, or the surrealistic touch of Magritte, or even the homage to Belgian animation figure Raoul Servais who died in March at 94 after releasing his last film Pearl. While A Town Called Panic may be the best example of what could be the Belgian style and topic, you may find it in every one of these films, from the musical delights of La Boîte Productions’ Yuku and the Flower of the Himalayas to the impressive, style-driven La Passante, by director Hannah Letaïf. They are all part of a diverse and booming animation landscape in this rainy but welcoming country.

Kévin Giraud is a veteran animation journalist and digital marketing consultant. As a true Brusseleir, he enjoys the local beer as much as he does Belgian animated shorts and features.