After studying film direction at the INSAS Film School in Brussels (1987–1991) and working as production assistant, production manager, and 1st assistant director (notably for Chantal Akerman), Patrick Quinet founded ARTÉMIS MÉDIA in 1992, a Belgian cooperative production company with an alternative approach to producing short films and documentaries.

In the early 1990s, the small number of film producers in the Belgian market were primarily writer-director-producers who worked almost exclusively on their own films, such as André Delvaux, Chantal Akerman, Marion Hänsel, and Benoît Lamy.

Following the international success of a string of Belgian films that rose to cult status, including Man Bites Dog, Toto the Hero, and The Music Teacher, our national movie industry experienced a veritable boom. At this time, new production companies—including Artémis Productions—emerged on the Belgian audiovisual scene, establishing themselves as full-fledged independent producers, both supporting the creativity of Belgian filmmakers and providing co-production services for a wide range of international co-productions.

In 1994, Patrick Quinet increased his cooperative’s capital, restructured the company, and renamed it ARTEMIS PRODUCTIONS SA. in partnership with the Luxembourg-based production company SAMSA FILM, which has, over the years, maintained an unwavering commitment to this partnership.

While the main focus of Artémis Productions at this time was seeking out new talent in film schools through the production of short films, Patrick Quinet began participating in co-productions in 1995, collaborating on a TV film for the Maigret series and the feature-length drama Hi Cousin!, directed by Merzak Allouache.

In 1997, Artémis embarked on their first film as executive producers: Max & Bobo by Frédéric Fonteyne. At the same time, the company collaborated on other co-productions with France, as well as line producing several films, including Ma vie en rose by Alain Berliner.

In addition to developing documentary and short film projects, the production of feature films intensified, with Artémis producing the second feature by Harry Cleven, followed by Frédéric Fonteyne’s second opus, An Affair of Love. This film, which earned Nathalie Baye the Best Actress Award at the 56th Venice Film Festival and was sold around the world, marked a turning point in Artémis Productions’ filmography.

Since that time, Artémis’ strategy has focused on several key priorities: a commitment to developing projects on an international scale through the financial involvement of other European countries, a determination on a cultural level to enrich Belgian productions through the participation of contributors with different sensibilities, and a desire to position Belgian films within their European context, without overlooking each film’s specific characteristics. The production company’s overriding objective is to combine an audacious approach with profitability, while highlighting the different forms of cinematic expression. The eclecticism of Artémis’ choices is guided above all by the personality of the film’s director and the quality of projects submitted, be they genre films or auteur films. This diversity is notably expressed in the great attention we place on the work of scriptwriters and auteur directors—which is the cornerstone of the company’s development policy.

In 2003, Patrick Quinet founded LIAISON CINEMATOGRAPHIQUE, a production company registered under French law, in association with Samsa Film (Luxembourg), Entre chien et loup (Belgium), and Nord-Ouest Production (France).

In 2005, Artémis Productions was awarded a Special Mention from the Jury in the Entreprendre Grand Prize organized by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Union of Enterprises in Brussels.

In 2007, the executive production and distribution company ARTEBIS SPRL was created, dedicated to the distribution of films from the Artémis Productions catalog, either independently or, in the majority of cases, co-distributed with CINEART.

Since the early 2000s, Artémis has experienced an upsurge in Belgian majority co-productions, with films by directors such as Frédéric Fonteyne, Harry Cleven, Philippe Boon and Laurent Brandenbourger, Geneviève Mersch, Alain Berliner, Dominique Standaert, Stefan Liberski, Gilles Béat, Philippe Van Leeuw, Bernard Bellefroid, Chantal Akerman, Lucas Belvaux, Jung and Laurent Boileau, and Vincent Lannoo, among others. Flemish cinema also occupies a key position in Artémis’ filmography, which includes productions by auteur filmmakers such as Miel Van Hoogenbemt (A Perfect Match), Caroline Strubbe (Lost Person Area), Geoffrey Enthoven (The Over the Hill Band), Michaël Roskam (Bullhead), Bas de Vos (Violet), and Joël Vanhoebrouck (Brasserie Romantiek).

In parallel with the development of Belgian film projects, Artémis has built strong connections with a range of foreign production companies: as well as SAMSA FILM and NORD-OUEST PRODUCTION, mentioned above, these companies include AGAT FILM, MK2, UGC, GAUMONT, and LUCKY RED. As a result of these collaborations, and after twenty years in the business, Artémis Productions’ catalog has been considerably enhanced by the work of internationally-renowned filmmakers, such as Benoît Jacquot, Amos Gitai, Elia Suleiman, Abdellatif Kechiche, Jacques Doillon, Abbas Kiarostami, and Nabil Ayouch, and includes films such as Doors of Glory by Christian Merret-Palmair, Love Me If You Dare and With Love... from the Age of Reason by Yann Samuell, The Girl From Paris and Merry Christmas by Christian Carion, OSS 117 by Michel Hazanavicius, JCVD by Mabrouk El Mechri, My Worst Nightmare by Anne Fontaine, Möbius by Eric Rochant, Eternity by Tran Anh Hung, Not My Type and This Is Our Land by Lucas Belvaux, The Danish Girl by Tom Hooper, I Am Not Your Negro, and The Young Karl Marx by Raoul Peck. See Artémis Productions’ complete filmography here.

Currently credited with over 150 titles produced or co-produced, Artémis Productions has stamped itself as one of Belgium’s leading production companies.

And that’s not all…

In addition to his work as a producer, Patrick Quinet served between 2001 and 2015 as president of the Union Belge des Producteurs Francophones de Films (Belgian Union of Film Producers, UPFF). In this capacity, he worked in close collaboration with the Belgian Finance Minister on the creation of a Belgian tax shelter incentive and actively participated in a number of reforms to the Belgian tax system, the most important of which has been legally enforced since 2015.

In 2010, on the initiative of Frédéric Delcor, general secretary of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, and with support notably from BeTV, the FIFF, the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, the Fondation Magritte, the UPFF, Profirst, Pro Spère, and the Ciné Télé Revue, the ACADÉMIE ANDRÉ DELVAUX was created. Named after one of the most important filmmakers in the history of Belgian cinema, this academy headed by Patrick Quinet and Luc Jabon (president of the Pro Spère federation of creative professionals in the audiovisual industry) aims to serve as a promotional vehicle for French-language Belgian films, both at the national and international levels. This project took tangible form with the creation of the MAGRITTE DU CINÉMA Awards, which, like the César Awards in France and the Oscars in the USA, reward the most outstanding achievements in the movie industry. The first Magritte Awards ceremony took place on February 5, 2011, at the Square Meeting Center situated in the heart of Brussels.

Patrick Quinet is also a member of the executive board of the Royal Belgian Cinematheque, which supports the preservation and dissemination of Belgium’s cinema heritage.

Finally, on the initiative of Patrick Quinet, Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, and Stephan De Potter, and with support from the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, a new cinema complex comprising four theaters opened its doors in February 2018. Named Le Palace, this complex is located in central Brussels.