The decision by Filmland to cease activity at the studio complex that bears the company’s name brings to an end one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in Luxembourg’s film industry history.
The complex in Kehlen opened in 2013 as a long-overdue response to the chronic shortage of film studios in the Grand Duchy, but the company will stop operating there at the end of July.
Although the closure of the studios is disappointing, it does not mean “the demise of Luxembourg cinema,” Bernard Michaux, co-founder of Filmland and a managing partner at production company Samsa Film, told the Luxemburger Wort. Several post-production companies will continue to operate at the site.
Continuing to invest in Filmland would have been too risky
Bernard Michaux
Producer at Samsa Film
Paul Thiltges, also a co-founder of Filmland, pointed out in an email that the company only operated two workshops and two studios. Two smaller studios would continue to be used by a company specialising in corporate events. The sound studio belongs to audio production company Philophon, whilst post-production image company Espera operates the editing studio. The office space in the two buildings in Kehlen is also leased to other companies independently of Filmland.
More than 80 feature films in twelve years
This diversity of companies spanning the entire film production chain reflects the project’s original ambition. From the outset, Filmland aimed to be a one-stop shop for Luxembourg filmmakers, a professionally equipped production hub designed to put Luxembourg firmly on the map of international film production.
It’s not just about the sound stages closing, but about what attracted filmmakers to Luxembourg – the whole idea around this ‘one-stop shop’
Guy Daleiden
Director, Luxembourg Film Fund
“It is a shame,” Luxembourg Film Fund director Guy Daleiden told Luxembourg Times on Thursday.
“And it’s not just about the sound stages closing, but about what attracted filmmakers to Luxembourg – the whole idea around this ‘one-stop shop’. And, of course, people, including producers from abroad, will now have to work differently and find a different way of filming, using existing apartments instead of building an interior set in a studio, for example.”
More than 80 feature films were shot there, at least in part, including international co-productions such as Tel Aviv on Fire, Egon Schiele and Bye Bye Germany, as well as numerous purely Luxembourgish films.
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However, despite the artistic success, Filmland’s finances were fragile from the outset. It was a collective feat of strength and, at the same time, a structural gamble. As well as Michaux, then at his own company, Lucil Film, and Thiltges, the project was backed by producers Nicolas Steil (Iris Productions), Claude Waringo (Samsa Film), Donato Rotunno (Tarantula Luxembourg) and Lilian Eche (Bidibul Productions). They all remain on the board, with Thiltges – whose own production company was recently declared insolvent – taking over as director and chairman from Steil at the company’s last board meeting in March.
Capacity likely insufficient
The project had its germination when investor Vic Elvinger had suggested to Steil that new film studios be built on his site in Kehlen. Previously, sound stages set up by private companies had existed in Bertrange, at a space in the Contern industrial park and at the former Arbed (now Arcelor) site in Dommeldange. But Filmland would be the first purpose-built complex in the Grand Duchy.
The entrance to the Filmland complex indicates the names of the production companies located at the site in Kehlen © Photo credit: Chris Karaba
Elvinger’s one condition was that the construction costs were to be recouped within six years, at a rate of €1 million per year, financed by rental income from film shoots and the production companies who set up offices at the site.
Studio operations were therefore dependent on high and continuous capacity utilisation. Yet even in the early years, repeated capital injections were required. And by the time of the Covid pandemic, the situation had worsened dramatically. The enforced lockdown shook the Kehlen studios to the core.
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A look at the financial figures for the past five years also reveals a recurring pattern of profits without substance, a company without a genuine asset base and lacking any sort of financial buffer. The fixed assets, consistently reported at just €2 for years, were nothing more than a residual item in the accounts. This meant that Filmland had no tangible collateral, and every economic setback posed an immediate threat to its very existence.
Warning signs
From 2021 onwards, the situation became critical. High debt of €331,660 was compounded by the lack of collateral. The annual loss of €115,369 made clear that the business model was no longer self-sustaining. From that point on, Filmland was effectively reliant on external support.
Although the company returned to profit in 2022, 2023 and 2024, this did not lead to any structural recovery. The company failed to make any new investments or build any sustainable reserves.
Paradoxically, 2024 represented the best financial position: debt had fallen to €150,055 and the company recorded a profit of €55,826. But it still had negative equity and liquidity was limited.
If we need studios, we’ll have to look for suitable spaces again, just like in the old days
Bernard Michaux
Producer at Samsa Film
The €118,089 loss Filmland suffered in 2025 therefore did not mark the beginning of the crisis, but was evidence of a full-blown outbreak. Debt rose sharply once again to €292,795, whilst equity slipped even deeper into the red.
“Continuing to invest in the film industry would have been too risky,” Michaux said. “If you look at the business models of such studios in Europe, there is hardly anyone who can manage something like this privately,” he said.
Winnersh Film Studios in England, for instance, had to file for bankruptcy in 2024 following a decline in production and were later even earmarked for demolition. Even long-established studios such as Ealing Studios experienced periods of significant losses and economic instability in the wake of the Covid pandemic, before the situation slowly began to improve.
Daleiden agrees, saying that even the most renowned European studios such as Cinecittà in Rome or Babelsberg just outside Berlin struggle to make money. “We just don’t have enough shooting days,” the Film Fund director said. “All in all we have between 400 and 500 days of shooting in Luxembourg, of which around one-third would be in a studio – so just 150 days a year. That is not enough to cover the costs involved.”
Return to days of improvisation
But running a studio is not just about being able to pay rent, Daleiden said. Keeping up to date with developments in technology is also a significant investment. “They couldn’t pay what was needed to prepare the future.”
The Film Fund would also not have enough money, even if it has an annual budget of €45 million, to run a sound stage. “And that is not our mission, in any case,” Daleiden said. “Imagine how many people we would have to employ to run a studio.”
State investment in a studio facility would also contravene European Union rules, Daleiden added. “So we couldn’t suddenly give €200,000 to Filmland, which was a private initiative, unless we got special permission from the European Commission.”
Daleiden said that Culture Minister Eric Thill is meeting producers next week to discuss whether alternative solution can be found. “But for Filmland, it’s over, sadly.”
The closure of Filmland means that Luxembourg production companies will once again have to resort to finding temporary sound stages for projects like The Secret Floor, a young person’s film by Amour Fou shot partially in Kehlen in 2024 that has won international awards. “Then we’ll have to go back to looking for suitable halls, as we used to, whenever we need a studio,” said Michaux. Many films are shot outdoors or at other locations anyway. Perhaps filming could resume in Kehlen at some point. Michaux, at any rate, does not want to give up hope.
But the closure, following closely after the insolvencies of Wady Films in October 2025 and Paul Thiltges Distributions in March, has led some to question the economic viability of the Luxembourg film industry. Michaux is suitably defiant. “It’s not that there are no problems,” he told the Wort. “But all these individual cases should be considered separately.”
(This article features text published by the Luxemburger Wort. Machine translated using AI, with editing by Duncan Roberts.)
