TOULOUSE

The Pink City brings back its reel to become, too, a land of filming

At the beginning of the month, the people of Toulouse were able to come across Agnès Jaoui and Géraldine Nakache at the bend of the rue du Taur. The two actresses were not there to visit the city but to shoot there
The Course of Life, Frédéric Sojcher’s latest opus. Belgian director of I want to be an actress is not the only one to have placed his cameras on the cobblestones of the Pink City this year.

Last April, Jean-Paul Lilienfeld filmed for eleven days Juliet in her bath and since October 11, Julien Patry has been realizing there Toutouyoutou for OCS, a series of ten episodes that plunges the viewer into the world of aerobics in the 1980s. Once a filming of feature films or series that the Pink City had never known until then. Occasionally, the capital of the Occitanie region could serve as a backdrop for large productions, such as d’Artagnan by Peter Haymes where the Capitol had rediscovered the sound of the hooves of horses pulling carriages.

From 2016 to 2020, the number of shooting days has multiplied by 3.7 in Occitanie

“By the end of the year, we’re going to have nine major shoots, whereas previously we were more on one to two a year. Between advertisements, TV shows, student shoots or clips, there is a limit per year, but the fallout is not the same, ”says Silvia Ferrari, the deputy director of the attractiveness agency which is has a real Film office to promote the city to production companies. Thanks to its support fund, it has invested nearly 150,000 euros this year on six shoots, “for 2.6 million spinoffs” between hotel nights, the work of local technicians, extras or even equipment locations. .

Aid often doubled by that Occitanie films, the region’s film and audiovisual agency. In five years, from 2016 to 2020, the number of shooting days has multiplied by 3.7 in all of its 13 departments.

Regional competition

In the midst of the region’s already large offer, Toulouse is therefore trying to find a place for itself. In particular to offer an alternative to Montpellier and Sète, which for several years have monopolized series filming with the very popular Such a great sun and Tomorrow is ours. These two daily meetings on France 2 and TF1 give a fantastic spotlight to the two seaside towns, which have made them a tourist attraction. And a source of income, since one euro invested in a series, it is 13 euros of impact.

“There is competition, but it is also saturated on the side of Montpellier and Sète”, notes the director of the filming office which multiplies the services to convince the achievements to choose Toulouse. Its location assistance service is free, as is its assistance with filming authorization requests or its connection with local professionals.

Stand out with “Toulouse on air”

To stand out, it has decided to build on its status as the capital of aeronautics by creating “Toulouse on air”, which presents eight companies that offer aerospace decors, from the airports of Blagnac and Francazal, to the Cité de l’Espace. via the Le Grand Set studio which allows you to shoot in an airplane interior.

“As soon as there is a scene in an airplane cabin or in an airport, Toulouse must become a reflex for the production teams”, discount Jean-Claude Dardelet, deputy mayor and president of the agency. attractiveness of Toulouse. A possibility offered since last year by Le Grand Set, a 1,200 m2 filming studio, including 500 m2 of set, which offers a fully modular and mobile airplane interior design.

Next week he will welcome the film crew Brother and sister by Arnaud Desplechin, with Marion Cotillard and Melvil Poupaud. “The idea is to offer a pack. When a team disembarks, we can offer them to shoot in an airplane cabin, but also to be able to do disembarkation scenes at Blagnac airport, a passage through customs or even a take-off at Francazal ”, details Laurent Foulquier , the director of
Big set. A large studio which was lacking to complete the offer of natural decorations and to decide the producers to choose Toulouse rather than Marseille or Montpellier.

As much as the little ones on the side offered by the Film Office. “The day before shots are taken in a street, we pass a suction pump, which takes care of reserving the parking spaces. In other large cities, town halls charge for productions, in Toulouse it’s free. It is for this kind of thing that we sent here that there is a desire to develop cinema, ”continues Laurent Foulquier.

With the other actors of “Toulouse on air”, this year he went to the Cannes film festival and to Séries Mania in Lille. History to seduce producers with their pack, some of whom had put their projects on standby because of the Covid-19 crisis.

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