Citation
In accordance with Article 2 of the Constitution of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation concerning the annual award of one or more prizes to honour individuals or organisations whose contributions in the cultural, social or social science fields have been of outstanding importance to Europe, His Royal Highness Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands confirmed the decision of the Board of the Foundation to award the Praemium Erasmianum for Film Culture for the year 1988 to Jacques Ledoux.
The prize is being awarded to Jacques Ledoux because
- with passionate persistence he has made the Royal Film Archive in Brussels into an exemplary and inspiring institution, preserving the art of film as part of our cultural heritage for future generations;
- he recognised the problem of conserving the vulnerable medium of film at an early stage and he himself devised methods of conservation and designed storage facilities;
- as the founder and organisor of the Festival of Experimental Film and the L’Age d’Or prize, he gave innovative film makers the opportunity to show their work;
- he set up the Filmmuseum and through daily screenings and film history courses made the art of film accessible to a wide public;
- by means of the so-called ‘decentralisation of classic and contemporary films’ he brought about a dissemination of films from the Archive throughout the country of Belgium.