Molenbeek (Brussels Morning Newspaper) -The crew of the 2022 film ‘Rebel,’ directed by Adil el Arbi and Bilall Fallah, encountered serious safety challenges while filming in the Brussels municipality of Molenbeek. When asked about the shooting, the director of the film, Bert Hamelinck, revealed that the crew had to pay some money to avoid being attacked by the youthful rioters with petrol bottles.
The security budget increased tenfold, from €30,000 to €80,000, to stress the fact that they had to work under very insecure circumstances. Thus, they were surrounded by constant security problems, making it impossible for the police to guard the crew around the clock. Therefore, the measures above were deliberately incorporated to ensure that the cast and the crew were well protected all over their shooting times.
The film ‘Rebel’ crew faced extortion and safety threats while filming in Molenbeek, prompting a security budget increase from €30,000 to over €80,000. This and other similar events stressed considerable safety concerns in the locality, and the local youths were known to have threatened them with Molotov cocktails. During a recent interview, Hamelinck recounted the crew’s alarming experience as they began filming ‘Rebel’ at the canal in Molenbeek.
“We recorded ‘Rebel’ (partly) at the canal in Molenbeek. We were told there kindly, but in a fairly compelling way, that we had to pay to guarantee our safety, “it was said in De Afspraak.
He said that they were contacted within two weeks of beginning their shoot and were told that unless they wanted their buildings burnt down, they had to pay for protection. The crew decided to improve the protection instead of yielding to blackmailing. Despite the increased budget for security, Hamelinck noted that the atmosphere remained “shady” throughout their two to three-week filming period, with young men frequently loitering around the set.
As Hamelinck also noted, some members of the crew are from Molenbeek, and both directors have connections to the community. It was, therefore, shocking to experience hostility during their project when the initiative focused on touching social concerns like youth unemployment and radicalisation among the youths. The themes could have been a factor, but when everybody wants a piece of such a big picture, then tension results, according to Hamelinck.
The context of filmmaking in Molenbeek
The challenges faced by ‘Rebel’ are not isolated incidents but reflect broader issues surrounding public safety and filmmaking in urban areas like Molenbeek. Molenbeek has always alleged its socio-economic context and is often in the limelight owing to radicals and criminal activities. However, there are problems connected with security and with authorities’ willingness to collaborate with filmmakers even though the country is rich in diverse cultures and populated with welcoming residents.
Belgium does not have specialised police forces for the safeguarding of filming scenes, for example, as is witnessed in Paris or London. More so, in the past decades, there has been increasing demand for heightened security measures while shooting as production companies seek to protect their cast from possible risks. Pinpointed by Hamelinck, many directors and producers invest large sums of money on security in order to protect their shoots from loss due to theft or violence. These issues are critical in understanding how creative freedom can sync up with security issues, particularly in cities.
By the same token, the latter pair of directors, Adil el Arbi and Bilall Fallah, continue to explore films based on their neighbourhoods. Their passion reflects the need to challenge social issues using the screen and probe different phenomena on location. Since issues related to safety in the public domain remain topical, it is only important for the local councils and filmmakers to find common ground in which the intended works can be developed and implemented while fostering safety and responsible citizenship.
