: Belgian film distributor Lumiere is moving back into independent distribution in the Netherlands. 

The Flemish company, which also runs cinemas as well as production company Lunamine, has appointed Thomas Fransman as head of theatrical and acquisitions. He will start work at the Amsterdam office in early September. 

Lumiere aims to release eight films theatrically across the Benelux each year.

Titles on the Lumiere release slate include Laura Wandel’s Adam’s Sake, which screened in Critics Week in Cannes; Julian by Cato Kusters, produced by Lukas and Michiel Dhont through their production outfit The Reunion; the upcoming Minotaur by Andrey Zvyagintsev; Lukas Dhont’s soon-to-shoot First World War drama Coward; Christy by Brendan Canty; and Louise Hemon’s A Girl In The Snow.

Lumiere co-owner Jan De Clercq said he was optimistic about the outlook for the theatrical market in Benelux. His company had been a leading player in Benelux distribution for two decades but had been markedly less active in acquisitions in recent years, concentrating instead on feature film and television production.

“We have decided again to buy movies,” he said. “We took that decision at the beginning of this year. But we are going to limit our line-up every year to a maximum of eight films because then we have the time – a minimum of three to five months – to prepare a release.”

The company was also previously active in the Netherlands, with Fransman as its head of theatrical, overseeing the Dutch releases of Lumiere hit titles including Boyhood and Shaun The Sheep.

However, the company scaled back its activities, closing its Dutch office in 2017, and started to work instead on Dutch releases with Babette Wijntjes and her Amsterdam-based company Vedette. 

After more than seven years away, mainly spent as a cinema programmer, Fransman is back in the Lumiere fold. “[Fransman] knows the Dutch market very well and will also help in acquisitions,” De Clercq explained.

The Dutch theatrical market for independent films is considered stronger than that in Belgium.

“There are about 120 screens for crossover and arthouse [in the Netherlands] while in Belgium we are at about 25 or 30 screens,” said De Clercq, of why ticket sales are higher on the other side of the border. “There are not enough cinemas [in Belgium], it is very simple.”

Lumiere runs five venues of its own: Cinema Cartoons, a three-screen complex in Antwerp; Lumiere Antwerp, which has two screens; a new three-screen venue in Mechelen; a four-screen venue in Bruges, and Cinema Focus in Geraardsbergen.

De Clercq calls these “city cinemas” rather than arthouse theatres. “That’s a place where people choose to see a movie with a glass of wine or a glass of beer instead of popcorn,” he said.

These sites show everything from the arthouse films of the Dardenne brothers to studio blockbusters like Lilo & Stitch to international indies such as The Outrun.

De Clercq, Annemie Degryse and Alexander Vandeputte remain the majority owners of Lumiere.