Description

First comprehensive history of Belgian cinema in the post-war decades.

Between the liberation of 1944 and the mid-1960s, cinema in Belgium was both booming and fragile. Film theatres across the country attracted record audiences and were rebuilt into dazzling spaces, while local film production remained a precarious enterprise. This book brings that paradoxical landscape to life. It explores cinephile culture and institutional developments alongside popular comedies, art documentaries, colonial films, industrial productions and experimental shorts. Sixteen chapters show how cinema related to Belgium's shifting identities in a period of reconstruction and transition. The book also challenges long-standing notions of a linguistic divide within Belgian cinema, showing that in the decades before regional film policies emerged, filmmakers and audiences largely operated within a shared national film culture. Generously illustrated and grounded in fresh archival research, this is the first comprehensive history of Belgian cinema in the post-war decades. Situating Belgian cinema within wider cultural, political and international contexts, it offers a compelling resource for film historians, cultural scholars, and heritage institutions.

Contributing authors: Christoph Brull (University of Luxembourg), Daniel Biltereyst (Ghent University), Ernest Mathijs (University of British Columbia), Femke De Sutter (Ghent University), Jérémy Hamers (University of Liège), Joséphine Vandekerckhove (University of Antwerp), Koen Aerts (Ghent University), Liesje Baltussen (University of Antwerp), Mathilde Lejeune (independent researcher), Matthias De Groof (University of Antwerp/University of Amsterdam), Raf Wollaert (University of Antwerp), Margaux Van Uytvanck (Université libre de Bruxelles), Tomas Leyers (CINEMATEK, the Royal Belgian Film Archive), Xavier Garcia Bardon (Université libre de Bruxelles), Matthew Stanard (Berry College), Wouter Hessels (RITCS/INSAS), Alexander De Man (University of Antwerp/Ghent University), Roel Vande Winkel (KU Leuven), Dirk Van Engeland () (independent researcher).