From the love of American streaming sites for Europe

Luxembourg is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is practically spoken only in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, a state island with a population of 600,000, equivalent to the city of Baltimore. Bringing the play to the screen in that language – any screen – can therefore seem like a very pipe-dreaming process. But Claude Warringo tried and tried again. For 35 years.

The film and TV producer got his first success with the anti-hero film ‘De Superjump Returns’, which tells the story of a studio Luxembourg civil servant who derives his superpowers from ‘Kachais’, a local specialty, cheese cheese paste. It generated 63,000 cinema tickets – an event within the borders of Luxembourg. But that is the limit. “Most people don’t know Luxembourg is there,” Warringo laughs heartily.

A big boom in the entertainment economy

Until something changes. American subscription streaming services have arrived and there has been a huge boom in the entertainment economy. A change that affected Luxembourg cinema as well.

It all started in 2020 with the acquisition of Warringo’s Samsa Films-produced crime series ‘Capitani’ for the Netflix RTL TV channel. It takes place in a beautiful Luxembourg village where baker gossips, clergy plot and teenagers mob. At one point, a Hood villain storms past a police officer, who is too busy eating a croissant to take care of him. The writers created the characters with specific actors in mind. Luxembourg’s pool of talent is not big enough for a casting call. On some glorious and impossible days this spring, Capitani was at the top […]

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