Hotel Bonka was formed in 2024 with the merger of media company Hotel Hungaria and communications agency Bonka Circus. It operates two business units, one devoted to communications, the other to the production of scripted and unscripted content for networks and streaming platforms. This mix actively informs the way Hotel Bonka approaches its projects.
Marketing is very important to us. It’s not just something we do at the end of a production, but something we work on from the beginning. It’s why we want to make a project, it’s how it is relevant, and it drives how we want to make it.
The company has a particular focus on high-end documentaries, such as Wild Belgium and 82 Days in Hell, and fiction for people in their twenties and thirties, such as Crave, a series about open relationships.
Wild Belgium
Wild Belgium is a seven-part documentary series and a feature film that puts Belgium’s wildlife in the spotlight normally reserved for the exotic animals of Africa, Asia or the Antarctic. Filming was led by wildlife photographer Pim Niesten, who has previously travelled the world for the BBC and National Geographic.
With more than 900 shooting days over three years, Wild Belgium involved a large budget and a complex financing structure.
Public broadcaster VRT played an important role, as did Screen Flanders, along with the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) and the Belgian tax shelter, but we also found a lot of money from private investors who were so engaged and enthusiastic about the project that they absolutely wanted to help.
Music played an important part in the production, with noted Flemish composer and conductor Dirk Brossé both providing the score and sitting in the editing suite to make sure the music precisely matched the images. “Sound design is totally different in wildlife than in other kinds of production, and we learned a lot from working with Option Media in Mechelen, who did an amazing job,” says van Lente.
In cinemas, the feature-length version of Wild Belgium became one of the best attended documentary releases in recent years. Meanwhile, Dirk Brossé conducted a chamber orchestra at several open-air screenings of the film.
82 Days in Hell
Hotel Bonka’s ambition is not limited to Belgium. “We are looking for stories with global relevance, stories that can inspire change and have a real impact,” says van Lente.
One example is 82 Days in Hell, a three-part documentary that reveals the gripping stories of civilians and soldiers who sought refuge in the Azovstal factory during the Russian bombings of Mariupol in Ukraine, in 2022. For 82 days, thousands of people endured this ordeal, which is captured through intimate interviews and archival footage.
The mood is entirely different in Heidi: Rescue of the Lynx, a 3D animated movie that Hotel Bonka is co-producing with Studio 100 International. This family adventure film stays true to the spirit of the characters created by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, while telling a completely new story about the girl from the Swiss Alps.
Co-producing with Hotel Bonka
Hotel Bonka is keen to work with partners in other countries, either on its own projects or as a minority co-producer. “Our focus is on projects that have some relevance,” says van Lente. “That can be quite broad, but there must be a why: why do we want to tell this story right now, why is it important to tell. If that resonates with you and a project you have, then I’d love to work together.”
