In 2017, the Dreamwall studio is once again offering Wallonia a place of choice on Cannes’ Croisette. Zombillenium, the much anticipated adaptation from the graphic novels published by Dupuis, has been selected to screen at Cannes. Just one month later, the animated feature will open the prestigious Annecy International Animation Film.
This double selection marks another wonderful success for Belvision, who owns Dreamwall – now Wallonia’s leading animation studio. Wallimage Coproductions and Wallimage Entreprises have been supporting Dreamwall since it was created and have seen the studio develop quickly into a renowned company. Last year, “their” Red Turtle – co-produced with the Ghibli studios – won the Special Jury Prize of Canne’s Un Certain Regard category.
Over the past 16 years, the animation sector has certainly recorded the strongest growth as it widely benefitted from Wallimage’s investments. The Walloon studios are taking on more and more projects, and the biggest studios – Digital Graphics or Dreamwall – are now playing on the international scene with ambitious productions. As a result of its investments in animated feature films, Wallimage has been represented on 4 occasions at the Oscars, for Brendan and the secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, Ernest and Celestine, and The Red Turtle. These films won praise worldwide
Another good reason for Wallimage’s presence at the 70th edition of the Cannes Festival is its involvement in the genre films market “Frontieres” as a Gold Partner. Wallimage has been a strong supporter of genre films for years, long before this kind of film became popular in Belgium.
Wallimage’s co-financing of films like Cub, Alleluia or Raw grabbed the attention of foreign producers. The international success of Julia Ducourneau’s Raw (which La Semaine de la Critique’s poster is putting in the spotlight this year) encourages those who specialise in a specific genre such as thriller, fantastic, horror or science-fiction movies.
Thus, Wallimage can’t wait to discover the first editing of Muse, directed by Jaume Balaguero and co-produced by Frakas in Belgium (Jean-Yves Roubin). This is a very promising gothic thriller that Wallimage is funding, along with a “VR Companion” produced by the Liege-based Mikros studio.
In view of the many genre film projects submitted for the April investment session, one can’t help believing that Wallonia is in the process of becoming the new key partner in genre productions.
