Wallimage sets up new funding line
Since it was set up 10 years ago, Walloon investment fund Wallimage has so far been pumping liquid assets (in the form of subsidies and loans) into audiovisual production and the development of companies working in the audiovisual sector in Wallonia. In view of the significant changes affecting the sector since the start of the decade, Wallimage has decided to create a new investment line, Wallimage Cross Media.
The mass move towards digitisation, both at the production and post-production levels, had already been supported by the Promimage programme. The digital manufacturing sector has thus greatly expanded in Belgium, where certain companies occupy a leading position on the world market.
Today, Wallimage has decided to turn its attention to the challenges of digital distribution. The idea is to encourage film producers to develop, in Wallonia, cross-media products connected to their films, documentaries, drama or animation series. To this end, the new funding line will be split into two sections: Digital Promotion and Digital Extension.
The first one involves possible marketing promotion tools for audiovisual products, i.e. the creation and management of pages on social networks, web 2.0 sites, Smartphone applications, and promotional games.
Meanwhile, Digital Extension applies to the ancillary or peripheral elements that enhance or complete a production, in particular anything related to UGC (User Generated Content), ARG (Augmented Reality Games), and webisodes that accompany TV series. It’s this type of experimentation that Wallimage Cross Media’s Digital Extension section intends to support.
The call for projects for the Digital Promotion section will close on August 22. It applies to films that have received co-production backing from Wallimage, and has an upper limit of €70,000.
The Digital Extension funding will take the form of a grant capped at a maximum of €125,000, awarded on a case by case basis. The first round of results will be announced next October at the forthcoming Namur Film Festival.
(Translated from French)
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