deMENSEN

That's My Art!: on Ketnet, from Monday through Thursday at 8:35am, 6:30pm and 7:10pm. Compilation episodes on Saturday at 10:40am and Sunday at 9:45am.

deMENSEN was nominated four times in four different categories for the most important TV awards in Flanders:

- Marcel Vanthilt: best male host

- Frieda Van Wijck: best female host

- 'Villa Vanthilt': best entertainment

- 'May I Kiss You?': best comedy

On March 24th 2012, at The Night of the Flemish Television Awards in Hasselt, we will know how many 'Stars' we may take home.

New episodes will start airing in April 2012.

In Laughing Memory: from Monday 30/01 onwards at 8:40pm on Canvas

The Flandriens: Cyclocross: from Monday 26/12 at 8:40pm on Canvas

Animals in trouble writes history: in the search for a lynx, a wolf was caught on camera. Big news, because the wolf has been extinct for over a hundred years in Belgium.

May I Kiss You? goes Holland: each Sunday night at 10pm on Nederland 3.

Blockx: starting August 29th 2011, every weeknight at 6:30pm on één

10 years Animals in Trouble, from Saturday Sept 3rd on één.

Villa Vanthilt adds one week to airing schedule. Marcel and his Villa will stay in Roeselare until September 1st.

Previous Sporza editor-in-chief Dirk Abrams becomes new program director at deMENSEN.

The new Villa is being built in Dendermonde... Stay tuned for the end result.

Villa Vanthilt won silver in the ‘set design' category at the PromaxBDA festival in Berlin.

In 2010, our set design was deemed more impressive than that of the Eurovision Song contest. This year, the set design of the Eurovision Song contest took home the gold.

The set of Villa Vanthilt was nominated for a PromaxBDA award for the second year in a row. Last year, the talk show production by deMENSEN was awarded the gold prize in the category of ‘best set design’. Whether or not the set of Villa Vanthilt will win another award this year will be revealed on 12 April.

At last year’s PromaxBDA festival, the talk show hosted by Marcel Vanthilt over the summer months was able to beat giant set designs such as the one of the Eurovision Song contest in Moscow. This year, the dodgem car inspired set of Villa Vanthilt will be up against the set of the Eurovision Song contest in Norway, among other nominees. On 12 April, all winners of the PromaxBDA festival will be publicly announced.

Last summer, television production company deMENSEN plopped down a giant dodgem car set-up for Villa Vanthilt in the town centres of Hasselt and Kortrijk. The final concept was selected from almost three hundred entries in the design competition: ranging from homes suspended in the air and camping sites to a Ferris wheel, a pigeon house and stylish design homes. People all over Flanders submitted entries for the design of the new ‘home’ for the nextVilla Vanthilt series: students in architecture, pupils from drawing courses, as well as advertising and design agencies, etc. However, there could only be one winner: Xavier De Graeve – professional stage builder and set designer.  

With assistance from production company deMENSEN, stage designer Rik Jacques from Pièce Montée, art director Ludovic Beun and lighting specialist Michiel Milbou, the concept was further developed and refined into the final villa design for Villa Vanthilt presenter Marcel. The greatest challenge was making sure that the entire set could be built and disassembled in a matter of days. This was achieved by constructing the set using large Algeco containers. You couldn’t tell from the outside, but the entire villa was constructed from carefully positioned and joined containers.

The dodgem car decor was no less than 26 metres long, 13 metres wide and 7.5 metres tall. Add a few thousand lights and the entire set-up turned into an attraction itself.

GOLD ONCE MORE?

Promax and BDA (Broadcast Designers’ Association) are the ultimate awards for marketing and design in television: the Oscars in the world of TV set design.

Almost one year ago, Villa Vanthilt took the first prize at the PromaxBDA festival with its previous set design, which was not inspired by dodgem cars but by The Eames House in California instead – an icon of modern architecture. Whether or not the dodgem car inspired set of Villa Vanthilt will win another award this year will be revealed on 12 April.

VILLA VANTHILT IN 2011

The new season of Villa Vanthilt will take off on channel Eén on Sunday 29 May. The villa will be set up in Dendermonde for the first five weeks, after which it will be relocated to Roeselare for another five weeks, with a three-week break in between for the Tour de France. The new set design for this year’s series will be revealed in May.

Flemish comedy show to be released on the Nederland 3 channel in November.

The Dutch version of the successful Flemish comedy format Mag ik u kussen? (Can I kiss you please?) is scheduled to commence around mid November. Production company deMENSEN has sold the format of the show to Dutch production company Skyhigh TV. Skyhigh TV and deMENSEN joined forces last month to release the pilot episode of Mag ik u kussen? on behalf of AVRO, with a positive response. The broadcasting corporation immediately ordered a series of nine episodes from Skyhigh TV which will be premiering on the Nederland 3 channel around mid November. Art Rooijakkers will present the Dutch version of the show.

Naturally, television production company deMENSEN, the Belgian VRT broadcasting corporation and Bart Peeters are really proud of the fact that their programme will get a sequel abroad, after being aired on the national Canvas channel for three seasons. After De Kijker Van Het Jaar, the Mag ik u kussen? format will be the second format developed by deMENSEN to be aired by the Dutch public broadcasting corporation.

Successful pilot

Skyhigh TV is an independent television production company with over twelve years of experience in television show production on behalf of several Dutch broadcasting corporations. Familiediner, Over Mijn Lijk, Model In 1 Dag and Uit De Kast are some of their greatest successes. Skyhigh TV had its eyes on the Mag ik u kussen? format for quite some time and produced a pilot episode last month in association with deMENSEN, this time with a Dutch cast: presenter Art Rooijakkers, female guest of honour Victoria Koblenko and comedians Martijn Koning, Jandino Asporaat and Philippe Geubels.

AVRO, who commissioned the show, was very happy with the pilot and immediately ordered a series of nine episodes from Skyhigh TV. The programme will be aired weekly on the Nederland 3 channel from mid November onwards.

Bart Peeters: “Slumbering genius”

Presenter Bart Peeters couldn’t be happier with the news: “Of course it is fantastic to see Mag ik u kussen? take off internationally. The format is brilliant. During its last two seasons, it became blatantly clear how the simple approach is what makes this format so strong. However, in the third upcoming season, the show surprised even us – the producers – in several ways. It’s incredible what a simple setting can generate. The programme has become a true success and has an average of 400,000 viewers per week.”                                                                                                                                                                    

“I am very pleased about the fact that the Netherlands is our first stop on this international journey. Over there, the number of glamorous ladies with a glib tongue is simply impressive. And they’re not exactly lacking talented comedians either. I won’t be presenting the Dutch version of the show. I am focusing more on building my musical career in the Netherlands, and I am going to keep myself available for Flemish television next year. Art Rooijakkers is a perfect choice. He was really good during the pilot – he is also young and good-looking, which you can’t say about me.”

Saving the best for last

Canvas has aired the third and last seasonof Mag ik u kussen? On Monday, 28 March, the last episode will be aired, followed by a compilation episode on Monday 4 April. Mag ik u kussen? scored better than ever during its third season: more than 400,000 people watched the show each week, representing a market share of 15.75 percent. Last week’s episode with female guest of honour Kim Geybels was the most watched episode of the show ever, with 491,728 viewers.

Repeat episodes on Eén starting on 2 April

Die hard fans of Mag ik u kussen? will be able to watch a few repeats of the show’s best episodes on channel Eén. As from 2 April, channel Eén will be airing the best episodes from seasons one and two for six weeks on Saturday nights around 10 p.m. Guests Natalia, Erika Van Tielen, Tom Lenaerts, Frieda Van Wijck, Elodie Ouedraogo and Philippe Geubels will be featured once more.  

Mag ik u kussen?is a television production of deMENSEN on behalf of Canvas.

Flemish independent television production companies Woestijnvis, deMENSEN and De Filistijnen Productions are launching a new company for the international distribution of their television formats and programmes.

The company, called The New Flemish Primitives, will be filling a void in the Flemish audiovisual landscape. Up till now, Flemish companies had to rely on foreign agents or major foreign production companies to introduce their formats on the international market. The New Flemish Primitives will be the first Flemish company dedicated to selling Flemish formats to international networks and producers.

The New Flemish Primitives does not merely wish to present the formats of its founding members to interested parties abroad but is also open to incorporating formats from other Flemish production companies. Meetings will be held with these production companies throughout the coming weeks.

Day-to-day management of The New Flemish Primitives will be in the hands of Sue Green, who held a similar position with Fremantle group for years. Sue is British but has been living in Flanders for many years. She knows all about Flemish television networks and programmes and speaks Dutch fluently.

Olivier Goris (Woestijnvis): “After the international success of De Mol, we knew that we can sell Flemish formats internationally. By combining our creativity with the professional and dedicated approach of The New Flemish Primitives, we will be able to air more Flemish formats world-wide.”

Raf Uten (deMENSEN): “In recent years, many Flemish television productions received awards at major events. We are renowned internationally for the quality of our productions. We were more than ready to get together with a number of producers to develop our own Flemish distribution platform that will allow us to show the work of our creative team on as many international networks as possible.“

Bruno Wyndaele (De Filistijnen Productions): “We are extremely pleased that we are able to move ahead in expanding the Flemish independent television production sector. The creative talent in this region of the world deserves to be distributed across the globe more than ever before. The fact that three competing companies are in this together is truly remarkable and applaudable. This initiative will help the Flemish audiovisual sector grow even more. As long as we can continue to develop more entrepreneurship, the future of the Flemish television industry is looking very bright.”

Bruno Wyndaele is the spokesman of The New Flemish Primitives and can be contacted at 02/248.48.48.

As from 3 January 2011, Canvas will be airing May I Kiss You? on Monday nights, presenting viewers with flirting madness of the highest hypothetical degree. Following the success of the previous two seasons, May I Kiss You? will return for the third and last time – with more passion and poetry than ever before. The third season will also be the last – the ultimate series, a farewell tour with a golden shine.

Of course, this dating show for the advanced will remain loyal to its most solid principles: each week, three men will vie for the kiss of one unprepared woman. Their only weapons are their eloquence and their well-considered humour. However, as on any third date, the time is ripe for new fantasies and experiments to emerge.

New, unfair rounds such as the Secret Weapon and the Poetic Straitjacket will become part of the game. The male legion will be expanded to include new comedians, actors and Greek gods. The men will be challenged regularly to display their non-verbal strengths. Every now and then, the format will be seriously deviated from. And the female guest of honour may not always be as willing as expected. She could be, for instance, the Minister of Internal Affairs.  

May I Kiss You? Operatie Verleiding, part 3: The stakes are higher. The competition has never been bigger. This show will definitely shift the boundaries of flirting. 

The program is competing for gold in the category "Best Coverage of Climate Change.

Warm television, relevant subjects, familiar emotions and human stories. This is the foundation of Goedele Now, Goedele Liekens’s new talk show.

The title Goedele Now refers to Goedele as a person and the things that affect her. This is very wide-ranging, as Goedele is a mondaine and knows her way around various worlds: she is ex-Miss Belgium, sexologist, UN ambassador, editor in chief of her own magazine and mother of two children.

In Goedele Now Goedele will discuss emotions, current affairs, relationships, social problems, sports, sex, psychology and politics. In all these strong stories, people and emotions will be the central focus. The flush of victory of a top-class sportsman who has had a very rough time for example, or the relief of a victim who can finally tell what he has been through, the infinite love between a parent and a child or the fear of failure of a very successful artist, …

Goedele’s guests will be Flemish celebrities who are facing important moments in their lives, unknown Flemish people who appeared in the news and international stars passing through Flanders. They all open up their hearts, show their emotions, and tell their stories.

Goedele will act as the warm hostess, listening carefully to the unusual tales. Warm and human. Empathic but at the same time critical.

On Wednesday the 9th of July Goedele Liekens and Stef Wauters will confront seven white rabbits, a term used in Flanders to describe political novices on a federal level, with the most important issues of the upcoming elections. They will depart from numerous specific stories of men on the street and present them to the politicians, in this case the white rabbits.

Goedele en Stef will take the time to talk about the most important themes of the elections. How will the community question be solved and how soon should the electoral district Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde be split? Since the incident in the justice of the peace court safety and legal matters are high on the agenda as well. And who is going to pay for the pensions of the ageing population? How will unemployment be tackled?

The starting point of the program is the question how these themes affect the lives of the man in the street in Flanders. Who suffers from an electoral district that has not been split yet? Who in Flanders has already personally experienced that the law system is flawed? And what does one have to do to get a job?

In 1999 the socialists introduced the first white rabbit: Patrick Janssens who worked in advertising before that. Since then, there have not been any elections that didn’t star white rabbits anymore. In The Vote of Flanders white rabbits get a  chance to express their opinions.

 Which white rabbits?

In the previous month three parties conjured up a snow-white rabbit out of their political hats. Siegfried Bracke, a former journalist, will be the person heading the list of candidates for the Chamber in East-Flanders for the N-VA. Rik Torfs, ecclesiastical jurist and television figure, has recently chosen a political side as well. He’s second on the list of candidates for the Senate. And Groen! presents Eva Brems, professor of human rights and known from television, who will be heading the list of candidates for the Chamber in Leuven.

In 2009 Anne De Baetzelier was the white rabbit of Lijst Dedecker. She did not get elected, but for the upcoming federal elections she is heading the list of candidates for the Senate. Open Vld introduces a white rabbit which they bred themselves: Gwendolyn Rutten. She is a member of the council in Aarschot but has never been elected on a federal level yet. Now she’s campaigning for herself and promoting herself as a blue rabbit, as blue is the political colour of Open Vld.

Also Selahattin Koçak has never gone any further than the council level. He is alderman for public works, buildings and festivities in Beringen for the sp.a. Now he’s fourth on the list of candidates for the Senate. And although the name Barbara Pas probably does not sound very familiar, the youth chairwomen for Vlaams Belang can’t really be considered as a real white rabbit. She has had her seat in the Chamber since 2007 and is now second on the list in East-Flanders. 

The wood and the trees

Goedele and Stef form a unique combination: emotion and empathy on the one hand and political expertise and journalistic wit on the other hand. Goedele is de political laywoman who talks to the man in the street and poses sincere questions about the upcoming elections. Stef helps the viewers to see the wood through the political trees.

Goedele looks for people with real problems. She lets them tell their story in person and share their emotions. On the basis of that personal story, a statement is formed and submitted to the politicians by Stef Wauters. He then asks for their opinion on that statement and tries to find out how the politicians would solve the problem of the man in the street. Stef leads the lively discussion while Goedele draws the story of the common man into the conversation.

The Vote of Flanders 

Not only the opinion of the white rabbits is discussed in The Vote of Flanders. In between the discussions of the politicians, famous Flemish persons from the media, sports and culture also get a say. They too explain their point of view. What does Tom Waes think for example about priests that are paid with public money? What is Kadèr Gürbüz’s opinion about a general smoking ban in pubs? And does Eline De Munck want an independent Flanders? By means of short and powerful statements, Flanders comes down on one side or the other.

On Monday the 31th of May Marcel Vanthilt opened the door of his brand-new villa: an impressive dodgem car stand which will be his holiday home until Sunday the 29th of August. For ten weeks, he will receive numerous interesting discussion and musical guests. During the first five weeks, the house will be located in Hasselt, afterwards it will move to Kortrijk for another five weeks. Hasselt and Kortrijk are very pleased to accommodate Marcel Vanthilt, whose enthusiasm can definitely compete with the thriving atmosphere of the cities themselves.

Animated conversations in a way that only Marcel can have, remain the basis of the show. About 300 known and unknown guests that are occupied with current affairs have a seat in the couch, at the table, in the front yard or in front of the web cam. Everyone who has something important to tell this summer, will be visiting The Vanthilt House. What is more, everything will be broadcast live, because Marcel Vanthilt was just made to make live television.
But also the villa itself will thrive, glow and shine, because for this summer the studio was actually built as a gigantic dodgem car stand. It is 26 metres by 13, 7.5 metres high and decorated with thousands of lights. This summer, the villa  itself will without doubt already be one of the main attractions.

The Vanthilt House: fun fair every day, an entire summer long. From Monday to Thursday and an exclusive deluxe version on Sunday.

A brand-new villa
At the end of last year Eén and the producers of The Vanthilt House organized a design contest in order to find a new holiday home for Marcel Vanthilt. Three hundred designs of students of architecture, students of art schools, but also of professional architects and advertising and designing agencies arrived at the editorial office and suggested new looks for the villa.

Out of those 300 designs, the jury chose the one of Xavier De Graeve, a 47 year old designer and set dresser from Antwerp. Xavier got his inspiration at his favorite place on earth, the fair, and drew a dodgem car stand for The Vanthilt House. It was a design brimming with rock & roll, just like Marcel Vanthilt himself.

We’re now five months later and the design has become reality. The dodgem car stand has been built at the Kolonel Dusartplein (Colonel Dusart Square) and looks absolutely impressive. The studio is 26 metres by 13 and is 7.5 metres high. Every spectator can follow the conversations without problems by looking through the big windows and on the screen next to the villa. They can also perfectly enjoy musical acts thanks to a big canvas. It is beyond dispute that The Vanthilt House will definitely catch the eye of all the people who are visiting Hasselt or Kortrijk this summer. 

Three hundred guests 
Last year, Marcel Vanthilt talked with about 300 guests in The Vanthilt House, which lead to a whole summer of animated conversations, Marcel’s trademark. He likes to talk to people and people like to talk to him. The enthusiasm of the guests in Ghent and Hasselt was striking, and this summer this won’t be any different. Everyone who has an interesting and topical story to offer, will be one of Marcel Vanthilt’s guests.

Of course the guest are mostly known by the public, but also unknown ones visit the villa. Just like last year, Marcel selects somebody who is in the newspaper of that day, invites him to come to his villa at night and lets him tell his story. A shrieking fan that was coincidentally photographed together with Tom Boonen, a man that jumped out of an airplane for his eightieth birthday, a brass band that won a festival in Denmark or a women that has found a solution for the community question here in Belgium for example. Small newspaper articles, big stories.

The web cam conversation, which was a great success last year and has in the mean time been adopted by many other television programs, will again be given a prominent place inThe Vanthilt House. Thanks to this web cam we can experience Qatar, China, Australia and New Zealand, but also the World Cup in South Africa, the tennis tournament in Wimbledon and the world exposition in Shanghai from nearby.

Every show people is traditionally closed by a strong performance of a musical act, ranging from Tom Dice to Tom Waes and from Vaya Con Dios to Admiral Freebee; sometimes even a surprising international act. In total, 49 different musical acts will perform in The Vanthilt House, and the spectators on the square will be able to enjoy it more than ever.

A swinging look

The format of The Vanthilt House anno 2009 was very much appreciated by the Flemish television spectators and television producers. Aerial photographs of both known and unknown locations in Ghent and Hasselt were taken using a tilt-shift lens and the stop motion technique, which led to nice miniature effects.

This year the program gets a swinging look again. In the opening credits, Marcel Vanthilt himself gets into a dodgem car and lives it up, surrounded by numerous famous people. For ten seconds, Flemish musicians do their thing on their favorite instruments on a platform that can rotate 360 degrees. In this way the background, a famous location in Hasselt and Kortrijk, flashes by super-fast. 

During the five first weeks in which the program is broadcast, you will see Stijn Meuris on his drums on the skating rink of Hasselt, Jan De Smet playing ukulele on the Fruitmarkt(Fruit Market) in Hasselt and Willy Claes as piano virtuoso in the council chamber of the city hall.

The Vanthilt House on Sundays 

Just like last year, Marcel Vanthilt will host a deluxe version of his show on Sunday nights. An extensive version of The Vanthilt House, with less conversations but more show on the square itself. Each time, one specific theme will be focused on.

In the first Sunday show on the 6th of June, five days before the start of the World Cup in South Africa, Marcel will organize his own World Cup on the Kolonel Dusartplein (Colonel Dusart Square). You will receive more information about this next week in a separate press release, but we can already tell you that the following football freaks will be present: Frank Raes, football commentator on the VRT, his namesake Frank De Bleeckere, the only Belgian referee on the World cup, ten gifted ball talents from the world famous football school Académie JMG and 32 football players from 32 different countries that will compete against each other in a game of “kicking the ball as hard as you can”.

We would hereby like to invite all the football-frenzied spectators to the front yard of The Vanthilt House to produce the biggest whistling concert ever seen in Flanders.

Completely live

It had been ages ago that a talk show was broadcast live, but last summer Marcel Vanthilt restarted that lovely tradition. And he was very successful. Because during live broadcasts, Marcel is at his best and television is entirely real. People walk in and out of the studio, often someone spills the beans and even declares a person dead, even if that’s not the case. But whatever happens, Marcel continues and the show goes on. This won’t be any different this year. The Vanthilt House will be worth no less than 2450 minutes of live television and will be the perfect end to your summer day.

Located at Hasselt and Kortrijk

The Vanthilt House will take off where it ended last year: on the Kolonel Dusartplein(Colonel Dusart Square) in Hasselt. It was a happy reunion with the city and the mayor Hilde Claes: “The Vanthilt House made our summer last year extremely cozy and entertained us from the start till the end. This won’t be any different this year. The Vanthilt House kicks off the summer season and tens of pleasant summer events, ranging from Rimpelrock to Pukkelpop, Theatre on the Market to Hasselt Dances and the Virga Jesse Festivities. Hasselt is heading for a warm summer. And it all starts with The Vanthilt House.”

On Thursday the 1st of July The Vanthilt House will be leaving Hasselt. Twelve trucks will then move the dodgem car stand to the Grote Markt (Great Market Square) in Kortrijk, exactly 178 kilometres to the west. The villa will open its doors on Monday the 26th of July. There too, everybody is very excited: “Marcel Vanthilt will be given the best location in the city: the Grote Markt”, says Kortrijk’s mayor Lieven Lybeer. “The Vanthilt House is the so-called icing on the cake. It fits perfectly into the bursting summer program here in Kortrijk with our numerous events such as Flanders Music Country, Summer Carnaval, Kortrijk Congé and Vlastreffen. A unique and warm television show in a unique and warm city: a perfect match.”

Extras in Hasselt

The city of Hasselt has prepared two extra initiatives as part of The Vanthilt House

As from Friday the 28th of May, you can admire the most eye-catching villa designs in the municipal library. Flying houses, Flemish farm-style houses, design houses and caravans: they’re all there, either in the form of a scale-model or on a poster. The exposition is open for public until Thursday the 1st of July. It is highly recommended for people who want to build a new holiday home of their own.

And everybody that stays the night in one of the five biggest hotels in Hasselt during the broadcasting period of The Vanthilt House, will be given an exclusive wifebeater shirt, a sleeveless singlet called Marcelleke in Dutch, with I slept with Marcel in Hasselt printed on it.

At the prestigious World Media Festival in Hamburg, the television production house deMENSEN won four prices with three different television programs. The three-part documentary Low Impact Man (Canvas) was the absolute winner: not only did it win the golden award in the category Reality, but it was also elected as best entertainment program of the entire festival, for which it got the sought-after Grand Award 2010.

The reality series How To (Eén) and the comedy show May I kiss you? (Canvas) were crowned as well. Both programs received the silver award; How To in the category Reality, May I kiss you? in the category Situation Comedy. An international appreciation of which deMENSEN, Eén and Canvas are very proud. 

Low Impact Man

The golden award in the category Reality and the Grand Award for the best entertainment program went to Low Impact Man. The Grand Award is the second most prestigious award of the festival. Low Impact Man is a three-part documentary about Steven Vromman from Ghent, who tried to reduce his ecological footprint to 1.6 hectares in six months time. The program was broadcast on Canvas in 2008 and rerun on Eén in 2009.

How To

The reality show How to ended in second place after Low Impact Man in the category Reality. In How To Tom Waes, together with this sound man Pascal and camera man Nico, takes up the craziest challenges, including taming wild horses, hypnotizing sharks and running 250 kilometers through the desert in only 7 days. The second season of How To is broadcast on Eén at the moment and is in fact very popular, thanks to Tom’s schlager song ‘Dos Cervezas’.

May I kiss you?

The hypothetical dating show May I kiss you? won the silver award in the category Situation Humour. The format of May I kiss you? is three men fighting for the heart of a certain lady. The one who eventually wins, can kiss her. At this moment, the second season is being broadcast and it is a great success. By winning this international award, Canvas lives up to its name of humour-focused television channel.

World Media Festival

The prestigious World Media Festival takes place in Hamburg every year and awards a prize to the best international productions in all media categories. Not only prizes for television are distributed, but also for advertising campaigns, company communication, public relations and printed and web media.

In 2007 Canvas already scooped the golden award at the World Media Festival thanks toTackled by the mafia, a Panorama documentary about the gambling scandal and the Asiatic gambling industry influencing the Belgian football. In that same year, Ketnet won the silver award for the cross-medial culture project W@=D@.

More information about the World Media Festival can be found on www.worldmediafestival.com

At the prestigious Promax/BDA festival in Lisbon, the television production house deMENSEN scooped the golden award for the set design of The Vanthilt House, the summer talk show broadcast on Eén. By that The Vanthilt House beat some serious toppers, such as the gigantic set design of last year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, which was nominated in that same category.

Promax and BDA are the most important awards for marketing (Promax) and Design (BDA, Broadcast Designers’ Association) in the television industry and can therefore be considered as the Oscars of the television design.

During the previous summer the production house deMENSEN set up a villa in the centre of Ghent and Hasselt for The Vanthilt House. It is from this house that Marcel Vanthilt hosted a new and cheerful live talk show broadcast on Eén; a show with content, humour and a substantial amount of rock & roll.

The format of the villa was inspired by The Eames House in California, an icon of modern architecture. The Eames House was built in 1949 by the legendary architect and designer Charles Eames. The villa of Marcel covers about 200 m², is two stories high and has a terrace and a garden, so guests and viewers can enjoy the scenery and the atmosphere of the city in the background. The interior of the house is filled with furniture of Vitra, including numerous designs of Charles Eames himself. An example of such a design is the iconic ‘Eames chair’, in which Marcel sat every time to round off the program and have a personal talk with the guest of that evening.

The construction of the set design was an enormous challenge, as there was no water nor electricity provided on the Sint-Pietersplein (Saint Peter’s Square) in Ghent and on theKolonel Dusartplein (Colonel Dusart Square) in Hasselt. What is more, the designers had to make sure the fundaments were stable and the walls were sound-proof. In July the 24 containers from the villa in Ghent had to be transported to Hasselt. Fifteen drivers and ten workers were hired in order to pull off this difficult feat in two weeks time.

The Vanthilt House was not only a great success on television. Every night hundreds of interested people gathered on the square in front of the villa to experience the program nearby and to get a taste of the live atmosphere. The villa was so popular that some viewers and companies even wanted to buy the house.

The set design of The Vanthilt House is the result of a close cooperation between the production house deMENSEN, set designer Rik Jacques of the company Pièce Montée from Ghent, light designer Michiel Milbou and art director Ludovic Beun. The same team is also responsible for the look of other programs produced by deMENSEN such as The Gala of the Flemish Television Awards, Blocks, May I kiss you? and The Classroom.

For The Vanthilt House we cooperated with Algeco, the European market leader in modular spaces. On the outside it is not noticeable, but in fact the entire villa is made from piled up containers that were placed next to one another.

In the same category the silver award went to the Spanish culture magazine Anima on the Spanish channel TV3.

A lot of the other prices were won by big international names such as Fox International UK, BBC, NBC Universal Global Network, Discovery UK, Canal +, Arte and Cartoon Network.

It is not the first time that the production house deMENSEN wins an award at the Promax/BDA festival. In 2007 Elections 2006, Town Hall Live won the bronze award in the same category and a trailer for Blocks bolted off with the silver award.