Jean-Claude Neckelbrouck 1944-2025

We were saddened to learn of the death of Jean-Claude Neckelbrouck, one of the founding members of the SBC.
Jean-Claude passed away on the morning of Wednesday April 9 at the age of 80.

He has been the cinematographer on numerous Belgian and French films and TV movies, collaborating with Samy Pavel, Chantal Akerman, Robbe De Hert, Roland Lethem, Michel Khleifi and Pierre Joassin, among others.

His love for cinema was sparked by his father who one day brought home a small hand cranked 35mm projector to screen films. Watching DP André Goeffers shoot a short film at his local school, Jean-Claude knew he had to become a cinematographer. So in 1962 he decided to go to the then newly formed film school INSAS to be trained by among others André Delvaux. After graduating in 1966 and working on lots of shorts he got his first assignment as a DP on the feature film Miss O’Gynie et les hommes fleurs by Samy Pavel. Many more films followed until 2005.

In parallel with his career as a documentary camera operator at RTBF television, he became a teacher at the INSAS film school, helping to train numerous classes of cinematography students. His attachment to INSAS remained undiminished, and he faithfully and lovingly joined the non-profit organization Les amis de l’INSAS as soon as it was founded, to continue to stand by the school.

In 1993 his was one the ten founding members( Michel Baudour, Raymond Fromont, André Goeffers, Michel Houssiau, Jean-Claude Neckelbrouck, Patrice Payen, Willy Stassen, Walther Vanden Ende, Yves Vandermeeren, Michel Van Laer) of the Belgian society of cinematographers.

The SBC will remember Jean-Claude for his kindness and passion for cinema. Our thoughts are with his partner Marc.