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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Belgium

No fewer than 11 projects supported during the 110th Wallimage session

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- The Walloon Regional Investment Fund is distributing nearly €1.35 million in its latest session

No fewer than 11 projects supported during the 110th Wallimage session
Director Claude Schmitz, who has received support for The Other Laurens

Wallimage is investing €1.35 million in 11 new audiovisual projects, which should generate more than €8 million in spending in Wallonia, and contribute to strengthening the local audiovisual sector.

Standing out among these 11 projects are four new feature films starting with the Belgian film The Other Laurens [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Claude Schmitz
film profile
]
by Claude Schmitz, filmmaker and theatre direction whose work both on stage and on the big screen has already granted him a great reputation, with at the cinema Rien sauf l’été, Carwash [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(winner of the prestigious Jean Vigo Prize), and Lucie Loses Her Horse [+see also:
film review
interview: Claude Schmitz
film profile
]
, a dreamlike composition about the job of an actress, shot during lockdown. With The Other Laurens, the director tries his hand at the fake noir film, working once again with Benoît Roland for Wrong Men in Belgium, and Jérémy Forni for Chevaldeuxtrois in France

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In an entirely different genre, we find Toto se met au vert, the follow-up to the adventures of the cheeky, clumsy child, whose first chapter was very successful (and already received the fund’s support). Pascal Bourdiaux returns to directing for this sequel, a co-production between France (SND and Superprod), Luxembourg (Bidibul) and Belgium (Frakas Productions).

For several years now, Wallimage has regularly thrown its weight behind co-productions between Italy and Belgium, a country which in fact welcomes a strong Italian community, notably in Liège, where the company Tarantula continues its collaboration with the Italian producers of Vivo Film for Superluna by Federico Bondi, who has already directed two feature films: Black Sea [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and Dafne [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, the latter of which was presented at the Berlinale.

The final feature film to receive support is a French comedy. Mr. Putifar's Wacky Plan [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, by Pierre-François Martin Laval (already a specialist of family comedies with Gaston Lagaffe [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, Les Profs [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and Les Profs 2 [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
), stars Christian Clavier and Isabelle Nanty, and is produced in France by UGC, co-produced in Belgium by Umedia.

Wallimage also supports documentaries and animation. It throws its weight behind A l’ombre des héros de la résistance, co-directed by Anne-Cécile Howard and Tristan Bourlard, and produced by Les Gens for the RTBF, as well as the new project from Films de la Passerelle (which produce, among others, films by Thierry Michel). E-sport, world of gamers by Bastien Martin centres on the mysterious world of e-sports, the online battles between video game pros. 

In terms of animation, the fund has selected an “old fashioned” 2D project titled Valemon: The Polar Bear King, inspired by an old legend, produced by Norwegian company Maipo Film, and co-produced in Belgium by Belga Productions and Vivi Film (already co-producers on other animated films such as The Secret of Kells [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Didier Brunner
interview: Tomm Moore
interview: Viviane Vanfleteren
film profile
]
). The other project supported is Planètes by Momoko Seko, a Japanese scientist working at the CNRS. A poetic tale following the cosmic wandering of dandelions escaping from a nuclear incident on Earth, the film is produced by Ecce Films and Miyu Productions in France, and Umedia in Belgium.

Finally, Wallimage also works towards the development of series, and at this 11th session supports Beyond Black Beauty, a Canadian family series for Amazon prime, co-produced in Belgium by Saga Film, as well as the German mini-series Night in Paradise, adapted from a graphic novel by Frank Schmolke for the streaming platform Starzplay, produced in Germany by Windlight Studios, and co-produced in Belgium by Belga Productions. The fund also lends its support to a project of comic sketches by Baba Nezar, titled Les Chroniques du charbon, for Belgian channel Tipik (RTBF), produced by Big Trouble in Little Belgium.

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(Translated from French)

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