Need to know: Belgian outfit Les Films du Fleuve was launched by directors and producers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne in 1994, just as they were beginning work on their third feature La Promesse. The company was set up not only to finance their own movies, but to collaborate with international producers and directors on artistically ambitious projects. In 1999, capitalising on the success of Palme d’Or winner Rosetta, the Dardenne brothers began to expand their reach and concentrate on co-production. The company has gone on to back films by the likes of Teodora Ana Mihai, Jacques Audiard, Mohamed Ben Attia, Farid Bentoumi, Nabil Ben Yadir, Mahmoud Ben Mahmoud, Stijn Coninx, Stéphane Demoustier, Stéphanie Di Giusto, Eugene Green, Cédric Kahn, Ken Loach, Ursula Meier, Cristian Mungiu, Pierre Schoeller, Amélie van Elmbt and Rebecca Zlotowski. Movies by the Dardennes and Loach are regular fixtures in Cannes’ Competition, while many of its co-productions have been selected for the festival, including Attia’s Weldi, Andrei Zvyagintsev’s Loveless, Mungiu’s Baccalauréat and Bentoumi’s Rouge.
Key personnel: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, co-founders, directors and producers; Delphine Tomson, producer.
Incoming: Current projects include Loach’s latest The Old Oak, now shooting; Laura Wandel’s L’Intérêt D’Adam, which is in development; Fien Troch’s Holly, currently shooting; Ursula Meier’s Berlin Competition title The Line; and Philippe Faucon’s Harkis, which is in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes.
Delphine Tomson says: “Our aim is to guide, finance and support young writer/directors at every stage of their creation. Rich with savoir-faire and ambition, our role is to serve the projects [both] with the help of co-producers and the promise of wide international distribution.”
Contact: delphine.t@lesfilmsdufleuve.be
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