Meeting on Monday July 1 to select the films and series to be co-financed by Wallonia, the Decentralized Co-Production Council (CDC) had its work cut out once again, with so many excellent projects of so many different kinds.
It’s no longer a question of selecting the very best projects that will boost the Walloon economy, but of selecting the very best from among them to fit into the available budget. So it’s hardly surprising that the acceptance rate has fallen drastically. But that’s the price of success.
Of the twenty-two applications received, twenty met the fund’s basic criteria and were analyzed by our team. Eleven of them join the Wallimage line-up. The total investment of 1,437,500 euros will generate 10,597,836 euros in regional expenditure, giving a reinvestment ratio of 737.24%. This will not only create a lot of jobs, but also bring in tax revenues for the public purse.
With four majority works selected, this anniversary session was certainly atypical, but it was also marked by some very good animation projects and a number of foreign projects making extensive use of our companies specializing in special effects.
Majority current
We don’t often get the chance to receive projects from the excellent Brussels-based company Helicotronc, which has built up a solid reputation over the years for both feature films(Une vie démente, Dalva, Le syndrome des amours passées…) and series(La trêve, Des gens bien). They succeeded in imposing two axes on this session.
Ethernel, whose pilot impressed us, will feature six episodes co-directed by Olivier Tollet and Nicolas Boucart. The theme is intriguing, as a policeman tries to solve his wife’s murder using technology that allows him to communicate with the dead, while at the same time finding himself at the heart of an opaque international conspiracy. 20 days of the 45-day shoot will be located in Wallonia, with 19 regional technicians on set, fed by a Walloon canteen. All equipment will be rented from Eye Lite, while sound effects and sound mixing will be handled by Bardaf and VFX by Benuts.
La danse des renards, also offered by Helicotronc , is a feature-length film in which a talented young boxer is confronted with physical and psychological pain that puts his friendship and sporting career to the test. This central character will be played by the very promising Sam Kircher, who was outstanding in L’été dernier alongside Léa Drucker. All the other young actors are beginners. La danse des renards is the first feature film by Valery Carnoy, who has just enjoyed huge worldwide success with his short, Titan, which was selected more than 100 times at festivals (including 8 times in category A) and won 31 awards. 11 of the 32 shooting days will take place in Godinne, with 14 on-set technicians working with equipment rented from TSF Liège. Sound mixing will take place at Bardaf.
In a completely different register, Sequel Prod has brought us a TV unit, Meurtres à Tournai, in which two detectives, including an eccentric Parisian, investigate the murder of a boatwoman in Tournai. This is the first “episode” in the “Meurtres à…” series, written, shot and directed in Belgium.Meurtres à…” series, written, shot and directed in Belgium. These TV movies are very popular in France, where they always attract over 4 million viewers to France 3. Naturally, 15 days of shooting (out of 20) took place in Belgium, with 11 technicians on set and equipment rented from Eye Lite. Sound effects and mastering will be handled by Cob and Bardaf, with some VFX at Limonade in Namur. It would have been a shame for the Walloon fund to miss out on such a Walloon story…
The latest majority project selected at this session is very different. In six 13-minute episodes, Ban !evokes harassment in all its forms, with sensitivity and modesty. Focusing on inspiring and realistic stories, this mini-series is aimed primarily at children aged 8 to 11, and will be premiered on RTBF. This public interest project is produced by 20 pictures to midnight, with whom we first worked on the Hamster animation project. Based in Enghien, this company plans to set up soon in the Montagne region with its studios (L2Dev/20STM), where it can handle image and sound editing, mixing, VFX, mastering and color grading. While the overall budget is smaller than those of other projects, Wallonia’s expenses are substantial, with a 100% regional author and cast, 13 Walloon technicians on set, camera rental from TSF, sound from Adhoc, and therefore the entire post-production.
Abundance of VFX
Thanks to the work of Wallimage, which in its 23 years of existence has succeeded in localizing significant audiovisual expenditure by major foreign productions, numerous studios specializing in animation or digital special effects have been set up here, and are working tirelessly on increasingly exciting projects.
The proof is in the form of We come in peace, an ambitious six-part Nordic SF series co-produced in Belgium by Beside . Over two million euros will be spent at Benuts, who will produce all the special effects for this potential small-screen blockbuster. To achieve this, the La Hulpe-based company will employ 28 Walloon artists and 7 technicians. The experiment will generate 3,000 days of cumulative work over 9 months or 14 full-time equivalents over one year. Impressive, isn’t it? The icing on the cake is that sound effects, editing, sound mixing, calibration and mastering will also take place in Wallonia.
In a similar vein, Potemkino brought us Woodwalkers 2, the second installment in the adventures of a young were-puma and his friends as they protect their school and the surrounding forest from the threats of a malevolent politician and property developers. This German project is reminiscent of Twilight, Harry Potter or Heirs of The Night (visible on Prime and already co-financed by Wallimage). Adapted from a series of best-selling novels for young people, Woodwalkers will be developed over three feature-length films. The first installment narrowly escaped us, but as some German funds don’t support sequels, Potemkino was able to (re)join the co-production for the next stage. A great opportunity for Mons-based studio The Pack (of which Wallimage Entreprises is a shareholder) to work on a major project over a long period of time and build up a team, since 930,000 euros of the four million euros earmarked for VFX will be spent in the city of the Dragon, generating a total of 1,300 days of work.
Minority co-productions
Umedia recently collaborated with Same player on Sous la seine , released on Netflix on June 5, a freshwater shark thriller that made a small impact internationally. The Belgian and French companies are doing it again with Ferris Wheel, which will be shot entirely in Wallonia (33 days in the Liège region). Julien Hosmalin, a music video director, screenwriter and editor who has also made three short and medium-length films, makes a complete change of register with this first feature, plunging us into the carnival atmosphere for a very dark tale of revenge. In terms of expenses, the project involves 22 technicians, casting (secondary roles and extras), rental at EyeLite and all post-production at Studio l’Equipe Wallonie. Only the sound effects will be provided by Dame Blanche. In addition to these duly identified expenses, which are similar to eligible audiovisual expenses, there is obviously a major non-audiovisual economic impact, as the entire team will be housed in the Walloon Region.
After L’Abesse, Saga takes us back to Spain, and more specifically to Barcelona, where Carol Rodríguez Colás is about to plunge us into a teenage drama set against a backdrop of class struggle. An excellent script for festivals and the arthouse circuit. While the entire shooting of La Gang will take place in Catalonia, nine technicians will be involved, while VFX will be produced by Benuts and one of the composers of the soundtrack, Simon Fransquet, will be from Wallonia. A small project and small Walloon expenditure, but a well-balanced dossier that calls for minor intervention and enables Saga to strengthen its contacts with the Iberian peninsula. For the project’s second run, Saga managed to increase Walloon expenditure by almost 10%, while investment demand remained unchanged: a good way to make up the difference for a dossier that had missed qualification by a fifrelin in April.
Animation
With Dudley and the Invasion of the Space Slugs, Freaks Factory has brought us a feature-length animated film with strong commercial potential, to be made not only in Belgium, but also in Luxembourg and India. Production will be shared between the Picture Factory studio in Liège and The Pack in Mons. On the menu for the Belgian part of the job, layout, part of the animation (shared with Broadvision), FX Anim/SIM, then Lighting & compositing (shared with the Luxembourg studio) and voice recording. That’s 22 people on deck for around 3,000 man-days in Wallonia, or a full-time equivalent of 14 people over one year.
Inspecteur Croquettes, penned by Antoine Robert and Benoit Delépine, will be the first animated film from the Groland troublemaker, who has already made eleven live-action features with his pal Gustave Kervern, building up a substantial and loyal audience over the years. Proof that you can be crazy and hard-working, atypical and popular. Here he recounts the adventures of Mystic, a pedigree cat who keeps getting fatter and fatter, to the despair of his owner, who feeds him only ultra-light organic food. His household companion, the good dog Dagobert, is asked to find out why he’s becoming obese. Thanks to the project’s sponsor, Belvision, Dreamwall will be in charge of set design, the film’s 72 minutes of 2D animation and VFX. In Wallonia, this production will employ 21 technicians, or 13.1 full-time equivalents over one year, including 5 managerial positions, or 2,891 man-days over 17 months. An avalanche of figures demonstrating the impact of this issue, which would never have come to Belgium without the combined efforts of Wallimage and Tax Shelter.
Gapbusters’ I’m still alive is much more serious. It looks at the ordeal that has become the life of Roberto Saviano, investigative journalist, writer and screenwriter, since he first described and denounced the mafia milieu in his writings and articles, particularly in his book Gomorra (2006), which laid bare the Camorra milieu. He is now being targeted by the new Italian government, which has lodged a complaint against him for hostile statements. This animated film is his directorial debut. Storyboarding and 2D animation will be carried out at Waooh, for an investment of over half a million euros.
More
As Belgian producers were unable to identify projects to take part in our ambitious Master Session scheduled for September, Wallimage’s decentralized Co-Production Council decided to cancel it and replace it with a more conventional session. It will start on September 5, and preliminary discussions will be possible from Tuesday August 27.