Session 121: Belgian cinema in the spotlight

The fourth session of Wallimage Coproductions 2024 honors Belgian creativity with ten new projects, six of which were developed in Belgium.

  • 15.10.2024

The fourth session of Wallimage Coproductions for this year 2024 sees ten projects join the impressive line-up of the Walloon fund. A special feature of this autumn’s edition: six of the selected works were initiated or mostly produced in Belgium, which is quite unusual in our statistics. The Decentralized Co-Production Council, meeting on Monday October 7, approved an investment of 1,228,000 euros, which will generate Walloon expenditure of at least 8,259,222 euros, representing an excellent reinvestment ratio for the region of 672%. Not to mention the more or less substantial revenue streams that should accompany the completion of some of these projects. And, of course, indirect, non-audiovisual expenses, mainly linked to shooting days in Wallonia. These total 114 for this session alone. Excluding, of course, the Living Forest documentary, which accounted for some 600 days alone!

Made in Belgium

Un Monde, Laura Wandel’s first feature film, has enjoyed a prestigious international career, with a Cannes selection in the Un certain regard section and extremely positive reviews. It also won 7 Magritte du cinéma awards in 2022. Produced by Dragons films and Les Films du Fleuve, L’intérêt d’Adamthe promising director’s new feature, was shot entirely in Wallonia, at the Huy hospital, the Croix Rouge de l’Espérance center and the Mont Légia hospital, with a Walloon crew including a 1st assistant, 23 technicians and a number of regional actors and actresses. Equipment rental from TSF, catering on set and mixing at Studio L’Équipe Wallonie round out the regional expenses for this film, which we hope to see at Cannes next May, especially as its cast, which includes Léa Drucker(L’été dernier) and Annamaria Vartolomei(L’Événement, Le Comte de Monte Cristo…), is more than appealing. Aimed at a younger audience, Space Boy, Olivier Pairoux’s first feature film, made its way into cinemas, despite a release in a difficult health context, before achieving good scores on television. We might therefore have expected the Antwerp-based director from Liège to return to the same under-exploited niche in French-speaking Belgium. But this lover of genre films took everyone by surprise by proposing to his producer Annabella Nezri(Kwassa films) Vigilantea dark, tense, “Flemish-style” script about a phenomenon popular in the United States: anonymous vigilantes who track down and punish pedophiles on the Internet, posing as young prey. Filming will take place over 7 days in Wallonia, with 22 regional technicians and Damien Chapelle from Liège in one of the main roles, alongside Geert Van Rampelberg and a very promising lead whose name we can’t reveal at this stage. In addition to the canteen, TSF’s electro and machinery rental, Dub Fiction’s postsynchro and Limonade’s VFX for 15K will also be provided by Wallonia. Seule contre tous by Teianu Ionut, presented by Jungle films, is a feature film for television. It will be broadcast on RTL and M6 in early 2025. Yes, its particularity is that it was entirely conceived in Belgium in record time, using an industrial process that can be replicated several times a year. Inspired by the Josacine affair that caused a sensation in 1994, the story begins when a little girl, spending the night at a friend’s house, dies after ingesting a poisoned drug. The ensuing investigation, complex and tense, will reveal many secrets. Supposedly set in Normandy, this story will be filmed in Wallonia over 17 days, with 33 technicians on set (including 7 shift supervisors). Added to these expenses will be rental, catering and a Walloon soundtrack.

Alongside these three feature-length fiction films, the Wallimage CDC has selected two documentaries that were also initiated here: Les arpenteurs du tempsLes arpenteurs du temps, presented by Les Films de la Passerelle , is the new feature film by Agnès Lejeune and Gaëlle Hardy, whose work together includes the moving Les mots de la fin. The questions they ask here are once again crucial: how do we age? Who will take care of us? 100% Belgian and 92% Walloon, this production will be filmed in Wallonia. In addition to the author-directors, the cinematographer, sound engineer, image postproduction and equipment rental are also Walloon. Is more regional possible? Perhaps not. But Living Forest by Robert Henno is just as good. Produced by Taka, this feature-length wildlife documentary explores the Walloon forest, home to a rich and diverse flora and fauna. Without his colleague Jean-Christophe Grignard, with whom he made the three-part Wallonie Sauvage, the Seneffe director once again brings together a (small) 100% Hennuyère team around his passion, which led him to immerse himself in our nature for almost two years. For the first time, an English-language version will be recorded, to better address the international market. This appendix to the Wallonie Sauvage series confirms that we were right to help this team chart its course towards professionalism when it came to us, a few years ago, without an industrial scheme in mind. With just projects, field experience and talent. The sixth project made in Belgium is Yugly, the annual feature film produced by NWave Studios , about an ugly puppy who wants to enter a beauty contest. Under the leadership of Yanis Belaid and Walloon Jérémie Degruson, 18 Walloon technicians will work for two years in the Brussels studios of these pioneers of Belgian animation: six technicians will work on rigging, five on lighting/compositing, and the rest of the team will be split between various positions. In our opinion, Yugly has everything it takes to be as successful as some of the Belgian studio’s previous projects, such as Big Foot Family and Queen’s Corgi, to name but a few. A miracle, given that the budgets of these films are barely 10% of those of Pixar or Dreamworks, with whom they compete head-on on the global animation market.

Minority co-productions

Still in the animation field, Bottanïx by Canadian Benoit Godbout has been brought to us by Stacka, who will manufacture most of the Belgian part of the project at The Pack Wallonia studios in Montpellier, where many Walloon artists are currently being recruited. A total of 1.35 million euros will be spent here, representing 2,049 working days, or 9 FTEs (full-time equivalents) over one year. As the icing on the cake, this public film will be an opportunity to showcase the company’s SYNK technology, based on the Unity video game engine, which dramatically reduces rendering time. For the studio, it will be a full-scale demo while working on a project with obvious international potential. A few years ago, thanks to the support of Wallimage, Climax was able to complete a 1st co-production with Switzerland, Atlas. Several Walloon contractors involved in the making of this feature film, such as Benuts for VFX and Bardaf for sound post-production, are back here for Signalan ambitious science-fiction series directed by Elena Hazanov. It follows an astronaut returning from a space mission to an altered reality where her daughter is dead. An unacceptable truth that she will attempt to circumvent by embarking on a dangerous adventure. It’s worth noting that it was only thanks to the combination of the Tax shelter and Wallimage that Belgium (and Wallonia in particular) appeared more attractive than Romania, which could have replaced it in a financial combination that’s always tricky to balance. During the five days of filming in Wallonia, 24 Walloon technicians will work on the set, while the sound department will be Walloon for the entire project. Sound postproduction will be handled by Bardaf and VFX by Benuts. This fourth session of 2024, the 121st in Wallimage’s history, also sees two major French films co-produced by Umedia in Belgium join our line-up. With The Book of the DesertGilles de Maistre continues in the vein of animal adventure films aimed at a very broad family audience. After Moon the Panda, currently in post-production (and already co-financed by Wallimage), he is shooting in Morocco the true story of a child lost in the desert and taken in by… ostriches. Seven Walloon technicians took part in the shoot, while Level9 handled the SFX (live special effects). KGS and TSF.BE will rent some of the equipment, as Morocco does not provide rentals for foreign productions. Genval-les-Dames for sound effects and Bardaf for the rest of sound and image postproduction will then operate, while Benuts will produce VFX for a budget of over half a million euros. In the more classic register of family comedy, C’était mieux demain, Vinciane Millereau’s first feature film, will reunite Didier Bourdon and Elsa Zylberstein, married in 1958, propelled into the present day, where they will discover a world in the throes of change, affecting even the inner balance of their couple. Thanks to Umedia, this is the twelfth time that UGC has relocated all or part of the shooting of one of its productions to Wallonia.

Waterloo hosted the shoot for 20 days, with 6 minor roles and 14 Walloon technicians on set. KGS, Karaboutcha and Macadamcar provided the rentals, while Auguste Traiteur took care of the canteen, Équipe Wallonie managed the rushes and Benuts handled some VFX.

En route to the last of the year

The last session of 2024 begins on November 14, capping an intense year in which the number of dossiers submitted to us has exploded. Of course, this growth means that we have had to make increasingly lengthy analyses and, above all, increasingly difficult choices, leaving behind some very good projects which, in other times, might have become a little Walloon. This will probably be the case more and more often. Get used to it now.