16/10/2024 - The regional Walloon fund is throwing its weight behind 10 new projects spanning all kinds of genres, including the two Belgian filmmakers’ hotly anticipated second fiction feature films

Following its 121st session, the investment fund for the Walloon region Wallimage Coproductions has its sights set on 10 new audiovisual projects spanning fiction, animation and documentary forms. Particularly memorable among the supported projects are two movies by two Belgian filmmakers who are embarking on the delicate adventure of their second feature films.

Acclaimed for her first feature film, Playground [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Wandel
film profile], which was presented in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section and which won her numerous prizes around the world, not least the FIPRESCI Prize in Cannes and seven Magritte Film Awards (including for Best First Film and Best Director), Laura Wandel is making her return with a new project entitled L’Intérêt d’Adam. Adam is a 4-year-old boy suffering from malnutrition who is taken to hospital following a court ruling. Head paediatric nurse Lucy allows Adam’s mother Rebecca to stay by her son’s side, despite the strict visiting hours imposed by the judge. But when Rebecca digs her heels in and refuses to leave Adam, things become complicated. In the child’s best interest, Lucy will do everything she can to help this mother in distress. The roles of Lucy and Rebecca are entrusted to Léa Drucker (who’s returning to a Belgian film set after her part in Close [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eden Dambrine
interview: Lukas Dhont
interview: Lukas Dhont
film profile] and is hitting cinemas this year in Chasing Johnny and Auction) and Annamaria Vartolomei (awarded the Best Female Newcomer César for Happening [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anamaria Vartolomei
film profile] and hitting cinemas this year in Being Maria [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jessica Palud
film profile] and The Count of Monte Cristo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]). The movie is being produced in Wallonia by Dragons Films and Les Films du Fleuve, in co-production with Lunanime in Flanders and Les Films de Pierre in France.

The other long-awaited second feature film comes courtesy of Olivier Pairoux, who distinguished himself in 2020 with a family adventure film called SpaceBoy [+see also:
film review
interview: Olivier Pairoux
film profile]. The director is radically changing genre and atmosphere with Vigilante, a dark and tense thriller inspired by the huge phenomenon in the USA of (predominantly) men who take the law into their own hands and track paedophiles online by passing themselves off as children or teenagers. The actor set to play the titular lone wolf is yet to be revealed, but we do know that the cast will include Belgian actor Damien Chappelle alongside French talents Roxane Mesquida and Zacharie Chasseriaud. The movie is being produced by Kwassa Films for Belgium, in co-production with Art et Essai in Canada. Shooting is scheduled for January next year.

We don’t know much about the third Belgian feature film supported by this session, Yugly, which is directed by Jérémie Degruson, developed by Brussels-based animation studio nWave, and set to be co-produced in France by Octopolis, but the movie will definitely benefit from Walloon funding.

Equally noteworthy is the news that Wallimage is backing two major French feature films carried in Belgium by Umedia, namely Le Livre du Désert by Gilles de Maistre - produced by Mai Juin Productions - and C’était mieux demain by Vinciane Millereau, which is produced in France by UGC and Les Films du 24, and on which filming is currently underway in Belgium, with Elsa Zylberstein and Didier Bourdon gracing the cast. Likewise enjoying support is animated Canadian movie Bottanix by Benoît Godbout, Swiss series Climax by Elena Hazanov, and Belgian documentaries Les Arpenteurs du temps by Agnès Lejeune and Gaëlle Hardy and Forêt vivante by Robert Henno.

(Translated from French)