Docu-Fiction While the climate issue brings out many dystopian docu-fiction on television, we tell you the surreal behind the scenes of the show which considered the end of Belgium in 2006
The makers of “Bye Bye Belgium” thought that the mention “Special Emission” at the bottom of the screen would be enough to indicate that it was a hoax. — Screenshot/RTBF
- While global warming inspires French channels with many dystopias, it is in Belgium that you have to look to find one of the standards of the genre: Bye bye Belgium.
- Sixteen years later, he is still on everyone’s mind. “Reality has truly surpassed fiction. At one point, I stopped reading the script to say what was really happening in front of me,” recalls Frédéric Gersdorff, a former political journalist who participated in the project.
< li>Broadcast on December 13, 2006 on La Une (RTBF), this docu-fiction in the form of a special edition of the television news considered the possibility of a separation of Wallonia, in the south of the country, and Flanders, in the north .
Television in 2022 is not stingy with dystopias. This media genre allows viewers to project themselves into an invented future. or at least imagined based on contemporary information. France 2 followed the same exercise in Envoyé special with La France à grave; 50°C in 2050 and 2050 : My life without oil. In 2050, let’s open our eyes! diffused on BFM TV on Monday November 14, the non-stop news channel imagined two scenarios of global warming in 28 years, thanks to reporters turned salt and pepper to a rough effect but leaving no doubt about the forward-looking nature of the show and where; the faces of news embodied their own roles.
But you have to head further north and back to 2006 to find what television has done best in terms of era of media dystopia, until hustle half citizens of a country. With Bye bye Belgium, a program considering the separation of Belgium between Wallonia – French-speaking – and Flanders – Dutch-speaking –, the RTBF bent; thegame of the format. So much so that the show still makes an impression when the program is about to start. blow out its 16th candle. “ Bye bye Belgium is one of our inspirations, says Myriam Alma, Head of Reporting Red Linefrom BFM TV. This program has influenced us in relation to; the fright it caused to the time… It’s for this reason that we put forward a banner indicating “programme d’anticipation” at the top of the screen.””
From an idea absurd to; the cutting of programs to broadcast a fake news with real journalists. 20 Minutesgoes behind the scenes of this slightly crazy project, which shook the borders of Belgium and awakened awareness about the possibility of from a split to the Belgian.
“”The hour is serious””
We are on December 13, 2006 at 8:21 p.m. After the ephemeral mention “this may not be a fiction”, the face of François De Brigode appears on the screens of millions of households connected to La Une, the country&circle’s leading public channel. Seriously, the one who looks like Belgian Laurent Delahousse announces: “ Bonsoir à à; everyone, the hour is serious. […] Flanders will unilaterally proclaim its independence. […] Clearly, Belgium as such would no longer exist.”
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It’s actually a vast television hoax which is being broadcast on the small screen. The emblematic faces of RTBF information are associated with it. “I knew that everything we were going to present was something very lively in Flanders but that we weren’t getting it right. speak to French-speaking audiences,” remembers Alain Gerlache, who at the time held the role of television director for the Belgian public audiovisual sector.
About a year earlier , it is approached by Philippe Dutilleul. The director of several subjects for the show Strip-Tease which then became Tout ça (will not give us back the Congo)offers him the project of a fake JT, organized in the greatest discretion, announcing the independence of Flanders. The idea is original enough for it to be accepted by Jean-Paul Philippot, the general administrator of French-speaking Belgian public television. “We just refused. to interrupt the JT because it’s sacred, that”s why the show came just after the newspaper”, confides the former television director . If the budget is lacking first for the project to materialize, the cancellation of the Grand Prix de Francorchamps will allow the project to be completed. the RTBF to benefit from the necessary funds to give birth to this unprecedented program.
“”They are sinking the box”
In the greatest discretion and with the code name “Karine and Rebecca” parent their battle plan by ensuring the greatest trust. They still plan to disseminate clues in the program to make the public understand that it’sa hoax.
Mid-November that Frédéric Gersdorff, then a political journalist, heard for the first time about Bye bye Belgium. Believing that the show can be an interesting start to the political debate, he accepts despite the refusal of the head of the channel’s political department. “It was absolute secrecy,” he rewinds. When I read the whole script and the role I had in the program, it seemed so drawn to me. by the hair that I have to my wife leaving our apartment: “If çit is, I will be back in 20 minutes.”” Posted in front of the Royal Palace, he is charged with to report the false comings and goings of the country’s political figures at the king’s bedside. “To me, “it seemed so clear that it was wacky and that no one was going to believe it, that the show wasn’t going to pick up and be cut short to get to the bottom of it.’ ;defeat expected soon after.”
But from the first minutes, the red line established for the occasion in the premises of Reyers, where is the headquarters of RTBF, is bombarded with calls from worried viewers. Kévin Dero, then a production assistant, took his first steps at; the RTBF at; that time and is scheduled for the following morning. “I was expecting the worst and I said to myself: ‘They are sinking the club the day I arrive, it’s been my dream to work there and here it is. ; how çit will end”… ”
“Reality” has exceeded fiction”
On the set, the interventions of François De Brigode are supported by the analyzes of Alain Gerlache who acts as a political specialist. Reports, made a few days before the broadcast are also broadcast. We see political personalities but also Belgian celebrities lend themselves to the game. The singer Annie Cordy reacts for example to the announcement of a separation of northern and southern Belgium: “If this is a joke, it is misplaced! […] Our motto is “Unity is strength well union is Flanders, Brabant, Wallonia!” ”
Another whimsical moment of the docu-fiction, a report made by to Tervuren, between Brussels and Flanders. Travelers are forced to leave the Stib tram – the company; transport company – to take a De Lijn bus – the company Flemish transport – on the other side of the linguistic border. “This footage was produced without appearing a few days before the show. We see people changing means of transport without asking too many questions, it’s real proof of Belgian surrealism”, still amuses Alain Gerlache.
For his live broadcast from the Royal Palace, Frédéric Gersdorff was surrounded by him; of some actors mobilized for the occasion. Belgian flags at hand, they were in charge of demonstrating. “L” where the situation became extremely special and unforgettable for me, it”s when dozens of people came to really demonstrate for the safeguard of Belgium in front of the Royal Palace”, says the journalist. Real demonstrators then mingle with the actors who have come to participate in the the illusion of a country in crisis. While some actors defuse the subject, Frédéric pursues the process. of the script, influenced by the events unfolding around him. “Reality has really exceeded The fiction. À for a moment, I stopped to read the script to say what was really going on in front of me to keep the country united.”
“We want De Brigode’s head on a pic”
On set, the tension is also palpable. “François was receiving the news with the political reactions on the screen in front of him and you could see that the impact of the documentary was beyond that. of what we could have imagined, recalls Alain Gerlache. We were sure we’d be fired right after the show. I remember saying, ‘Look, we have to stay dignified until the end, we’re on the Titanic, we keep playing.’”
The head of television at the time had however warned the Minister of the Interior just before his live appearance “so that he was aware but not enough in advance so that he can stop us from doing it.” The telephone line is also assailed by a continuous flow of calls despite the appearance of a headband “this is a fiction” after 33 minutes of broadcast. “Even the next day when I arrived, “it didn’t stop; to ring. However, the RTBF had not planned any particular device”, specifies Kévin Dero. Some viewers believe that someone close to them died when they learned of Flanders’ independence. “They then told me that it’s a joke and that they had the right to have fun since the RTBF had done it”, laughs the one who is now a web journalist for the string.
Other stronger reactions call for “De Brigode’s head on a spike”. Kévin still remembers having exchanged; with a presenter of the JT, then on vacation in France. “She told me she had heard about the separation from Belgium and was asking me if she should cut her vacation short,” the absurdity of the situation. But on the sidelines of the calls, a petition is born on an Internet still in its infancy. Praising the initiative, many viewers show their support for the program. “While on the side of the policy, ça shot at red balls on the RTBF, I think that these people saved; our place in the company”, analyzes Alain Gerlache.
Three years before 541 days without government
Internally, the distribution of Bye bye Belgiumwill leave traces and divide the editorial staff. The next day, correspondents from television channels from all over the world flock to Boulevard Reyers. “I remember seeing my face in one of the World”, points out Frédéric Gersdorff. Alain Gerlache evokes on his side; a “crisis meeting” organized in the office of Jean-Paul Philippot. “Some people thought we had to apologize and I defended the idea that” from the moment when we had believed in the project, it had to be defended. any price.” All the protagonists nevertheless evoke a “unique” but difficult to reproduce at the time when the fight against disinformation and fake news is a daily battle. “Today, with social media, it probably wouldn’t last five minutes.” the memory of the Belgians. “”It has made it possible to show that the tension between Flemish and Walloons was gripping the population,” notes Kévin Dero.
If the scenario never happened exactly as in the one imagined; by the teams of All ça (will not give us back the Congo), Belgium will nevertheless spend 541 days without a government between 2010 and 2011. Three years after the broadcast of the program, the tensions between Flemings and Walloons will have put the country at risk. the arrest for almost two years. A dystopia in the form of a visionary electric shock which will therefore have made it possible to get into the minds of Belgians that a potential separation from the country was perhaps not just a fiction.