End of an Era

After thirteen years of shooting and producing films, the studios and offices in Kehlen are slowly emptying out. Filmland, Luxembourg's one-stop film production complex, is closing its doors. Over 80 films and co-productions were shot there, plus adverts and other productions bringing the total to around 150 projects. A producer who spent years working there told RTL: "It hurts."[1]

What made Filmland unusual was its completeness. Everything was on one site: film studios, production offices, sound installations, special effects, post-production. Set builders, prop makers, all the professionals a production could need, working in the same place. The producer described it as a one-stop shop, which he said was "far from the norm" in the industry. They built a reputation across Europe for professional excellence. In almost 14 years, they never had a major disaster.

The closure came down to money. Modernising the two filming studios would have required investments of up to 250,000 euros annually for the next five years. The Film Fund lacked the necessary resources. The government cited European constraints. The producer noted, with understandable bitterness, that film studios exist all over Europe which benefit from financial aid. Luxembourg's couldn't.[2]

The studio director's farewell was more elegiac than bitter: "Filmland was never just a work tool or a technical complex. It was a true living space. A unique place where a multitude of professions, craftspeople, technicians, and creators crossed paths, exchanged ideas, and brought Luxembourgish cinema to life every day." He acknowledged the closure would leave a huge void, and raised legitimate concerns about what the absence of studios means for the diversity and ambition of projects that can be produced in Luxembourg in the future. But he chose to focus on the positive: everything Filmland generated over 14 years left an indelible mark, and that memory would quickly make the industry realize how fundamental a film studio remains.

The producer was more sceptical about the future, but optimistic that a new generation of producers will find other approaches, even without the easy option of filming in a studio. That is the hope. The loss is the loss. 150 projects, 14 years, one site, now emptying out. An era ends not with a dramatic last scene but with keys handed back and lights turned off in rooms that used to be full of people building things.