The Board of Wallimage met online this Monday, October 11 to choose the files that will join the line-up of the regional fund at at the end of the fourth funding session of 2021, the 106th in the history of the institution. Seven projects have been selected for a total investment of 1270 000 euros.
Over the last fifteen years, through the investments of Wallimage, we have seen that the animation industry (re)became one of the most flourishing audiovisual branches in Wallonia. Studios like Dreamwall, Waooh!, Digital Graphics or Mikros Animation were born and developed with the support of Wallimage, others are joining them.
RedFrog, an imposing French studio located in Lille, has just opened a Walloon branch in the premises of Station 6 which also houses Agent Double, Dame Blanche Genval, UFX Wallonia or Hush! His first mission on the spot will be the realization of a part of the season 1 of La vie en slip (a Belgian IP), an animated series of 52 episodes in 2 D. In a successful attempt at harmonious integration, Agent Double is co-producing this project . A total of 3220 man-days will be concentrated in Wallonia for the animation work (on 125 days ) and the whole Postproduction will be done at Dame Blanche Genval. The original music will be composed by Pierre Gillet, the sound editing realized by Guillaume Marique (104 days), the mixing by Mathieu Cox and Antoine Hurdebise. The sound effects (26 days) and the recording of voices (18 days) will also be done on site as color grading, finalization, masters and PAD entrusted to Benjamin Dontaine. Full house!
In terms of animation, the other star of the session is Waooh! who will see his agenda seriously expanded by two new and very different projects.
Season 2 of Pompon Ours was brought to Belgium by Umedia. Adapted from a collection of books that has already sold over 250,000 copies. Aimed at 4/7 year olds, it will include 72 episodes of 7 minutes plus two 21-minute units. That’s twice more than the first season which was an immediate success with 10% of the audience in France and more than 50 broadcast buyers across the world. Waooh!, in charge of the layout for all the episodes and the animation of 52 segments, will employ 17 people including 15 Walloons, from March 2022 to August 2023, for equivalent work at approximately 4,240 man-days or the equivalent of 19.3 FTE (full-time equivalent) for one year.
We find the studio installed at the Pôle Image de Liège at the controls of the Walloon part of the creation ofAllah is not obliged, adapted from the novel of Ahmadou Kourouma crowned in 2000 of the Goncourt des Lycéens prize and the Renaudot prize. This feature film, intended for older teenagers and adults, follows the incredible journey of a child trying to save his life in a West Africa ravaged by tribal wars. To the point of becoming a child soldier himself, because in those countries, sir, there is no choice really . A team of 15 people, including 4 station managers will be gathered to the PIL for an amount of 380,000 euros, corresponding to approximately 5.5 FTE over one year. Another point of satisfaction: this project will require that Waooh! form, with the support of Technifutur, of the animators to a software very particular, still very little mastered in our country to date. The sound effects, color grading and audio description will also be done in the Walloon Region, at Dame blanche and Chambre noire thanks to the pugnacity of Need Productions which has localized these exciting expenses .
First series for Disney in which a Belgian company is involved, Mauvaise Pioche was brought to us by Belga. This crazy action comedy is a great opportunity for Wallimage to get a little more into the universe streamers, a major issue for the next years. This proposal is all the more attractive as 2/3 of the shooting will be wallon (49 days out of 70) with a local actor in the lead : François Damiens. Eighteen technicians will surround him on this project which is the French adaptation of the series The Wrong Mans produced previously by the BBC and which will be broadcast exclusively on Disney +.
In a style more dramatic, Wallimage will again accompany Entre Chien et Loup for the third and final season ofEnnemi Public. This final will only have 6 episodes, but the budgets of each segment have been increased significantly. Fifty days out of the sixty that requires the shooting are located in Wallonia with 29 technicians on the set of which 9 are in charge of the casting, the renting, the sets and the costumes, the control room and the catering, that is to say an almost identical scheme to those of the first seasons. The icing on the cake is that, after broadcasting on RTBF, the three seasons of Ennemi Public should land on a major streaming platform and thus leave to conquer the world market.
Only two feature films ” live ” have managed to make their way in this selection.
Co-produced in Belgium by Tarantula, Orlando will tell the story of an old Italian , torn away from his rural roots in Puglia, to discover, in Brussels, that his son has died and that he has a little girl whom he will have to take care of . A shock, psychological and societal for this man boorish who will be interpreted by Michele Placido in front of the camera of Daniele Vicari. 24 days of shooting on the 35 planned will take place in the region of Liege with the help of our colleagues of Wallimage Tournages. 45 Walloon technicians will be on set while Mikros and Cob Studios will contribute to the post-production.
Brought to you by Versus, The night of the 12th allows us to welcome finally the excellent Dominik Moll in the line-up of Wallimage, always accompanied by his faithful co-writer Gilles Marchand of whom we have formerly co-financed The Other World. In this intimate thriller focused on a team of the PJ of the Grenoble region, all the Belgian technicians (minus one) are Walloons, as are the key posts of the postproduction which will be done at Bardaf and Dame Blanche Genval. Cherry on the cake, Bouli Lanners will find the uniform he loves to wear on the movie sets. And that suits him perfectly.
