30/04/2015 - The French-Speaking Film Producers’ Union hands over the reins to a pair of producers from Liège, Jean-Yves Roubin (FraKas) and Joseph Rouschop (Tarantula)

Jean-Yves Roubin and Joseph Rouschop

After 14 years of loyal service, Patrick Quinet has come to the end of his term as president of the UPFF. The founder of Artemis Productions, he is also co-president of the André Delvaux Academy, which organises the Magritte Belgian film awards, and along with Luc Dardenne, Eliane du Bois and Nicole La Bouverie, is behind the Palace, a new film complex for arthouse and engaged film, which is set to open its doors in Brussels very soon. Artemis has produced the films of a number of Belgian writers (such as Bernard Bellefroid, Frédéric Fonteyne, Chantal Akerman, Lucas Belvaux and Vincent Lannoo to name but a few), and also invests in a number of majority French co-productions (recent examples include Superchondriac [+see also:
trailer
film profile], La French [+see also:
trailer
film profile], The Clearstream Affair [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and Flemish co-productions (The Beast [+see also:
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film profile], Brasserie Romantiek [+see also:
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film profile], Beefhead [+see also:
film review
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interview: Bart Van Langendonck
interview: Michaël R. Roskam
film profile]). Patrick Quinet contributed greatly, whilst at the head of the UPFF, to the recent Tax Shelter reform.

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It’s now the turn of two producers to take the lead. After working at Versus Production and then Films de la Passerelle, Jean-Yves Roubin set up FraKas Productions in 2006, a film production company which works with young filmmakers to take a cutting view of society through hard-hitting and ambitious subjects – both in the form of fiction and documentary. Recently, Frakas produced Moroccan Gigolos [+see also:
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film profile] by Ismaël Saïdi, Post Partum [+see also:
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interview: Delphine Noels
film profile] by Delphine Noëls, as well as Beyond the Walls [+see also:
film review
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making of
interview: David Lambert
film profile] and All Yours [+see also:
film review
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making of
interview: David Lambert
film profile] by David Lambert. Turning to Joseph Rouschop, he set up Tarantula Belgique in 1996, driven by the desire to defend the sincerity and dreams of the writers he works with. In 2002, his debut feature film, A Piece of Sky, by Bénédicte Liénard, was selected for Un Certain Regard, opening the company’s eyes to international opportunities, which accompanied the young Belgian company through its first feature films, including Mobile Home [+see also:
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film profile] by François Pirot (2011), and the soon-to-be-released Baden, Baden by Rachel Lang. In a few days, Tarantula will unveil its latest co-production at Cannes, The Wakhan Front [+see also:
film review
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film profile] by Clément Cogitore. 

Jean-Yves Roubin and Joseph Rouschop will therefore be the voice of French-speaking Belgian producers in the years to come, and will start by implementing the 10 work priorities recently drawn up by the association (see news article).

(Translated from French)