Jacques a vu will be the feature debut for Xavier Diskeuve, a journalist who made some very esteemed short films so far. To move on to his first feature film, co-produced in Belgium by Iota and Ezekiel 47:9, he remains faithful to his own universe and commitments. He will work with his friends who trusted him in the past and the story will be set in the Ardennes where a small village will be turned upside down due to a mystical appearance. Christelle Cornil, Nicolas Buysse, François Maniquet and Alain Azarkadan will spend a flaming hot summer … pray for them.
Previous to that, Hubert Toint will travel to Chili to film Mirage d’amour avec Fanfare, his debut feature film, obviously produced here by his own company, Saga Film. Marie Gillain will discover passion in the form of Argentinian actor Leonardo Sbaraglia. The screenplay, adapted from a successful novel by Chilean author Hernan Rivera Letelier, is written by Bernard Giraudeau, who unfortunately didn’t get the time to film it. A beautiful tribute and wonderful adventure in South America for a producer who finally gets to live his dream.
He will probably also encounter felicity … just like the individuals in Six personnages en quête du Bonheur, a documentary series looking for always original ideas and solutions, thought out and implemented by Belgians who try to better their lives and with that, society in general. Set up as a series of 6×26 minutes, half will be filmed in Wallonia and the RTBF, co-producing with Whac Media will broadcast it.
The last two selected feature films are potential blockbusters. At least, such is the hope of their French and Belgian producers.
Supercondriaque means a reunion of Dany Boon and Kad Merad, the successful duo from Bienvenue chez les Chtis. This time there are no southerners versus northerners in the story, but a hypochondriac forty-something (Boon), who asks his doctor friend (Kad) to help him find a wife. By all means, this sounds like a desperate mission. Perhaps it is. A dangerous mission also … well you could say that. Above all, it sounds like something very funny, which of course it is. Artemis are co-producing the comedy, which is being filmed in Belgium.
The other film with a high commercial potential co-financed by Wallimage’s board of directors, is called Grace, by Olivier Dahan. uFilm co-produces this biopic for Belgium, wherein we go back to the sixties when Grace of Monaco was just learning the ways of a princess’s life. A striking Nicole Kidman tries to adhere to the protocol in order to make her husband, played by Tim Roth, happy. We have been able to view about twenty minutes of pre-edited rushes, as the film has already been shot, and we can only say one thing about it: every invested euro is visible on screen. The sets and costumes, splendid on camera in the very large shots, are so majestic they take the viewer’s breath away.
Wallimage goes USA? Who knows …
