Belgium

Steele, J ORCID: 0000-0002-9601-6749 (2025) 'Belgium.' In: The Bloomsbury encyclopaedia of animation studies: vol 1 - geographies and histories. Bloomsbury, London. (Forthcoming)

Abstract

For Mosley, Belgian animation ‘evolved’ into its own specific medium in the 1960s and 1970s, operating effectively as its own ‘national cinema’ through government subsidies (2001: 126-127). Belgian visual culture and animation has garnered a strong international and global recognition, from the Tin Tin graphic novels and cartoons such as The Smurfs (both of which are celebrated and recognised in the Belgian capital, Brussels) (Moins 1997; Heise 2014: 316). This ‘national’ cinema has, however, modified to operate at the intersection of the local and the global, i.e. as a transnational producer. Since 2001 and 2004, with the implementation of new film funding agreements, Belgian film production has increased through European co-productions (Steele 2019). Belgian animation falls between two categories, as international co-production partner and very low budget animations produced by student filmmakers from celebrated schools like La Cambre. This chapter captures this complexity, and its ‘transnational mode of production’ (Shaw 2013) for animation, recognising Belgian as centres of expertise for animation production, and as a key centre of young, emerging talent and animators.

Item Type:	Book Chapter or Section
UN SDGs:	Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Keywords:	Belgian animation, animation in the DRC
Subjects:	J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) P Language and Literature > PB Modern European Languages
Divisions:	Bath School of Art, Film and Media
Research Centres and Groups:	Centre for Media Research
Date Deposited:	20 Mar 2025 14:36
Last Modified:	20 Mar 2025 14:36
URI / Page ID:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/16818

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