Airport, studios … How Toulouse wants to attract more filming related to aeronautics
Through Anthony Assemat
Published on
Toulouse is already one of the major aeronautical capitals, with the presence of the Airbus Group world headquarters in Blagnac (Haute Garonne) since 2016, thousands of employees, an accumulation on the green plane but also order books which are starting to think on the rise.
“From the plane to the airport, all your decorations”
But there is one area where the Toulouse metropolis still wants to further assert its leadership in aeronautics, and that is cinema. And in particular the shootings. To federate synergies and pool assets, Toulouse Métropole, via its Attractiveness Agency “Toulouse has everything!” », Decided to create a structure to attract filming and showcase the area to production companies. Its name: Toulouse On Air. Its slogan: “From the plane to the airport, all your decorations”.
City of space, Aeroscopia …
Eight major players in aeronautics are part of the adventure. First of all, there are must-see places like Toulouse-Blagnac airport and Francazal aerodrome. But also leading cultural players such as the city of space (nearly 120,000 visitors this summer, a historic record since 1997), the Aeroscopia museum de Blagnac and Flight of the Pioneers, in Montaudran.
“That directors have the Toulouse reflex”
We also find the association of Ancient Wings, which restores and showcases legendary aircraft to present to the public during open house weekends several times a year, Aviasim, the Beauzelle company which operates flight simulators, and the studios of Big set, in Colomiers, managed by Master Films. “With this structure, we want aeronautics to enter the world of cinema, for directors to have the Toulouse reflex as soon as there is a plane in a film!” », Explains Jean-Claude Dardelet, president of the Attractiveness Agency.
A pooling of resources which made it possible to identify nearly 180 sets representing different styles and different eras. Recently, the Ancient Wings, for example, loaned sets and aeronautical equipment for the shooting of the “Toutouyoutou” series, a production which posed its cameras in Toulouse and Blagnac until November 19, 2021 for a series of 10 episodes of 26 minutes for OCS, and which speaks of the aerobics world in the 80s.
The sites rely on their complementarity. It is, for example for airport scenes, easier to shoot in Francazal than in Blagnac for safety reasons. Aviasim’s cockpits can be valuable, and sights like Space City can function as a hook.
With an airplane decor unique in Europe
Attracting shoots requires above all dedicated studios, and turnkey productions. It is the role of Big set these last months. In May 2021, LF7, a modular aircraft scenery of 500 m2, unique in Europe, was inaugurated. Cost of the project: 800,000 euros. “We are quite capable of hosting shoots in a natural setting. Now we’ll be able to do it in a studio setting! There is a demand… We did not embark on a crazy project ”, declared to Toulouse news François Cadène, Managing Director of Master Films, in February 2020.
In January 2021, the first filming took place in the Grand Set studio. The plane cabin had hosted Toulouse director Jean-Louis Cruz, with the production of Tony Gomez’s “BamBam” music video – Don Xabi.
Take off in 2022?
Toulouse On Air began lobbying for the Festival de Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes), in July 2021, and the Séries Mania Festival, which took place in Lille (North).
Will 2022 be the year for Toulouse On Air to take off? “The team will initiate promotional actions in Europe, especially in Spain for future shoots. The next meeting with professionals in the sector will be at the Salon des Tournages in Paris in January 2022 ”, concludes the Bureau des Tournages.
So, soon the comeback of “Mom I missed the plane” or “Is there a pilot on the plane” with shoots in the Pink City?
Nine major shoots in 2021
The Shooting Office took stock of a year of shootings in the Pink City in 2021. Six shootings have been completed or are in progress: “Juliette dans son bain”, a feature film by Jean-Paul Lilienfeld with André Dussolier (April 2021), “Dominique Person”, a 20-minute short film (July-August 2021), four documentaries on AZF (from May to July 2021), “La Seria” (September-October 2021), “Le cours de la vie “, feature film with Géraldine Nakache and Agnès Jaoui (October 2021) and the series” Toutouyoutou “(October 11-November 19, 2021).
Three major shoots are planned by the end of the year, but no details have been filmed. “In 2021, Toulouse Métropole allocated 140,000 euros in subsidies for these shoots, with economic benefits of 2.5 million euros,” said Silvia Ferrari, deputy director for economic development of Invest in Toulouse.
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