30/09/2016 - The Walloon audiovisual investment fund has opted to co-finance eight projects: five fiction features, two docs and a series

For its 81st session, Wallimage, the Walloon audiovisual investment fund, has decided to co-finance eight projects: five fiction features, two documentaries and a series. Following an initial failed attempt in the 1990s, Terry Gilliam is back with a new, somewhat zany project to adapt a literary behemoth: the extraordinary adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza (read the news), who will be played by Michael Palin (formerly a fellow Python) and Adam Driver (who rose to prominence in the series Girls), respectively. The shoot for The Man Who Killed Don [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Terry Gilliam
film profile] Quixote [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Terry Gilliam
film profile], which is being co-produced by Entre Chien et Loup, will kick off in November.

Wallimage will also be supporting Mon ket [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: François Damiens
film profile], the directorial debut by actor François Damiens, which tells the story of Dany, king of the post van, who does everything he can to make amends with Sullivan, his 12-year-old son. The movie is being produced by Artemis and was co-written by Benoit Mariage (Cowboy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benoît Mariage
film profile]), with contributions from Matthieu Donck (who directed Damiens in Torpedo [+see also:
trailer
film profile]).

Meanwhile, Tarantula is co-producing Nico, 1988 by Italian director Susanna Nicchiarelli, a biopic focusing on the twilight years of the singer, actress, model and muse, who died on the island of Ibiza at the age of 50 after falling off her bike. The film will be partially shot in Wallonia, where various neighbourhoods and buildings in the Liège area will stand in for Manchester or Prague in the late 1980s.

Scope Pictures is producing L’Echange des Princesses [+see also:
trailer
interview: Anamaria Vartolomei
film profile], a historical film by Marc Dugain starring Lambert Wilson, Catherine Mouchet, Olivier Gourmet and Thomas Mustin, among others. In addition, Nexus will co-produce Le Manoir with Gaumont: this funny genre film that gradually lapses into out-and-out comedy stars the biggest French YouTube celebrities. The shoot for this movie will also take place entirely in Wallonia.

Wallimage will also be backing three projects destined for the small screen: Les Enfants du hasard, a documentary by duo Thierry Michel and Pascal Colson, produced by Les Films de la Passerelle; Premier homme, co-produced by AT-Doc, a feature in the same vein as the famous BBC documentaries The Incredible Human Journey; and finally, a Flemish series, Jan de Lichte et sa bande, a project that has been entrusted to a number of renowned directors, such as Robin Pront (The Ardennes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Robin Pront
film profile]), and which stars names such as Matteo Simoni (Marina [+see also:
trailer
interview: Cristiano Bortone
film profile]) and Stef Aerts (Belgica [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Artemio Benki, Sylvie Leray
interview: Felix Van Groeningen
film profile]).

(Translated from French)