In activity since February 2001, Wallimage gathered this 6 July its Board of Directors to make, for the 100th time, the difficult choice of projects to invest in ! Because at each investment session, there are more candidates than elected, proof of the attractiveness of the mechanism which is ultimately quite simple We analyze in depth the needs of the productions, the reliability of their promoters and above all the estimated audiovisual expenses that they intend to make in Wallonia. It is this ratio between the applicants’ demand and their promise of structuring benefits for the sector that is our main decision factor.
But this 100th Wallimage investment session is a milestone, because our board has analyzed, beyond the 9 new projects submitted ” as usual “, 25 other applications of a kind never seen before in the history of the Walloon audiovisual fund !
Extremely anxious to support the sector at the time of the recovery of activities, with the support of our Minister of Trustees, Willy Borsus, our Board decided at the height of the Covid crisis to release 1,592,000 euros in additional and non-recurring equity for this ” Session 100 “.
This exceptional intervention has been dedicated to productions already accepted previously in the ” line-up ” of Wallimage as long as their promoters commit to financing Walloon audiovisual expenses beyond those initially foreseen in the contract that binds us.
The success of this proposal was overwhelming, as 17 production companies submitted 25 applications which, if we had the capacity to refinance all of them, would inject a little more than 4.5 M€ into the regional market.
How to explain this success ?
You will have understood that in normal times, our return in Wallonia varies on average between 400 and 500 % of our investment, which means that, if we change our point of view, we finance 20 to 25 % of the expenses that the Producers make in our region. It is the combination with the Tax-Shelter which covers up to 40 % of these same expenses that has made Wallimage’s offer so attractive for years and has made Wallonia a ” hot spot ” for European co-productions with more than 400 films and series in 20 years.
For this call for additional funding, we offered to fund 2/3 of the new expenses agreed to by the applicants on our own (the Tax-Shelter being inoperative in this case) !
Why this special operation ?
Because the effects of the Covid crisis are far from over for the sector ! The shootings that did not take place from March to June, will create a hole in the order books of post-production companies in November, December and January. At a time when the support measures devised by the Federal and Regional governments are in danger of diminishing or disappearing. Needless to say, more than ever, our analysis focused on the structuring aspect of audiovisual expenditures
The winners
The nineteen files selected for additional funding are L’ombre des filles and La Corde (Versus), Annette (Scope Pictures and Wrong Men), Miss Marx and Ios sto bene (Tarantula), L’école de l’impossible and L’empire du silence (Les films de la passerelle), L’Opéra (Belga), Petit Poilu – season 2 and Le petit Nicolas (Belvision),
Kommunioun (Novak), Freaks Out (Gapbusters), Ice Rangers (Double Agent), UFOs (Be Film), The Hidden Child (iris), Hinterland (Scope Pictures), Game of truth (Domino), Coyotes (Panache) and Baraki (Koko watering the culture)
These supplements range from 7,000 to 230,000 euros for a total of 1,592,000 euros to generate 3,703,581 euros of expenditure in Wallonia, in addition to the 18.8 million already committed by these productions. The total economic return to the region on these files remains, despite our new intervention, at a significant level of 447.15 .
Photos : Unifrance – Wikipedia – Wallimage
