Dupont and Dupond Make a Movie

The Belgian government in 1965 decided to start subsidizing the national film production. Over the last 25 years, numerous Belgian productions have been supported with public funds, and Belgian cinema has achieved international standing. The two filmmakers Robbe de Hert en Luc Pien investigated this film climate, like a kind of 'Janssen and Janssens' (the two famous investigators from Hergé's comic strip 'Tin Tin'). They collected material from the recent period and interviewed people concerned. Famous and less famous people of the Flemish cinema were asked for their opinions, memories, and impressions. Bit by bit, a mosaic was put together, consisting of pleasant anecdotes, cynical stories, political theses, and sobering statements. The lamentations and frustrations of the people working in filmland were recorded with a lot of humour. Dupont and Dupond Make a Movie is a varied documentary about the sometimes tough road that had to be taken to get a film produced. Undoubtedly, the situation has approved. Edith Kiel's popular comedies from the fifties contrast sharply with fully fledged productions from the eighties like The Sacrament, Blueberry Hill, Crazy Love, and Wait until Spring, Bandini. At a smooth pace of trailers, film fragments, archive images, and interviews, De Hert and Pien show the progress of the technical aspects of film business. They depict the evolution from the filmmakers who focussed strictly on Flanders to an internationally rivalling film-production. Furthermore, the political and social conditions a film was produced in are examined. The film provides a complete picture of the situation in which Belgian filmmakers had to work for the past 25 years. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)