The first one, entitled Deuxième Génération, is an adapation from Michel Kichka’s graphic novel « Deuxième Génération, ce que je n’ai pas dit à mon père » or « Second generation, what I didn’t tell my father ». The film deals with the memories of Holocaust victims, and more specifically with the passing of those unspeakable memories on to their children.
The author Michel, through whose eyes the story is told, belongs to a Jewish family who are small business owners living in Belgium. His father, Henri, is a concentration camp survivor who has always refused to talk about his past. The mystery surrounding their father’s history gives room to the imaginations of Michel and his brother Charly. When the Eichman trial is broadcast on TV, bringing with it details of what really went on in Auschwitz, Henri decides to start speaking out. He becomes both a spokesman and a symbol of his people’s suffering to the point of almost ignoring his own family…
Director Vera Belmont aims to make the film accessible to a wide audience, and although the graphic novel was in black and white, she plans to make it in colour. Touching and full of humour, the project is coproduced by John Engel from the Brussels-based company Left Field Ventures with animation by the Belgian animated studio Waooh! The Genval les Dames company will work on sound editing, sound mixing and dubbing. It will star renowned actors Vincent Lindon and Sandrine Kiberlain in the French version, and Ed Harris and Emma Thompson in English.
Zombillénium, the second project selected, is also an adaptation, this time from the successful Editions Dupuis comic that has already sold 250,000 copies. The story plunges us into a horror/ amusement park where monsters, meant to frighten visitors, have the blues. Not only do their souls belong to the devil, but they are also tired of entertaining consumption mad, selfish human beings. They are soon joined by Aurelien, a young man who has been changed into a zombie after his death in a car accident.
Directed by Arthur De Pins and Alexis Ducord, and produced by Dupuis Group company Belvision, the film will be partly made by Group Dreamwall studios.
Comic book lovers will need a little patience though. This release is not scheduled until 2017.
