The Wallonia Brussels Federation Film and Audiovisual Centre has just announced the results of the Film Commission’s first 2022 session, which is supporting 57 new projects, of which 4 are fiction feature films in production.

These include A Man of the World, which is the new film by Frédéric Fonteyne and Anne Paulicevich (Working Girls), based upon the true story of Ranuccio Bandinelli, an antifascist Archaeology and History of Art teacher who sought to steer clear of politics but who found himself appointed, ex-officio, as Hitler and Mussolini’s official guide during their visit to Rome and Florence. A Man of the World is the story of a man who could have become one of the greatest heroes of all time. A man who is believed to have had the opportunity to rid the world of Hitler and Mussolini in one fell swoop… The filmmakers are continuing their collaboration with Jacques-Henri Bronckart, who also produced Working Girls, on behalf of Versus Productions. The movie is co-produced by Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima and Carlotta Calori on behalf of Indigo Films (Italy) and by Nicole Gerhards for Niko Film (Germany).

Olivier Meys is likewise set for support in the production phase as he returns with his second feature film after the highly acclaimed Bitter Flowers. In L'Été de Jahia, he follows Jahia, a young Eritrean who lives in an asylum seekers’ centre in Belgium. One day, she meets a young Moldavan woman called Nèta and gets caught in the whirlwind of her crazy energy. Unfortunately, Nèta’s family are ordered to leave the country and she suddenly falls victim to Resignation syndrome, drifting into a deep sleep. L'Été de Jahia is produced by Michigan Films (Belgium) in co-production with Kidam Films (France).

The Commission is also awarding aid in the production phase to filmmaker Jawad Rhalib who is making his return to fiction after dedicating himself to the documentary form in recent years (notably via Fadma: Even Ants Have Wings and When Arabs Danced) and is currently preparing Amal, produced by Scope Pictures. Last but not least, in league with Wallimage (read our news), the Commission is backing The Other Laurens by Claude Schmitz, who just nabbed an award at FID Marseille for his previous film Lucie Loses Her Horse. This movie is produced by Wrong Men (Belgium) and Chevaldeuxtrois (France).

In terms of films in the development phase, the Commission is wagering on the expert genre cinema duo composed of Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani (The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears, Let the Corpses Tan), who are receiving support for their work on Darling, which tells the story of a young painter tracking down his aggressor in 1960s New York, and which is produced by Gapbusters. It’s also throwing its weight behind Laurent Micheli’s (Lola) adaptation of Simon and Capucine Johannin’s shock novel Nino dans la nuit which is produced by Wrong Men, as well as backing three second feature films: Wind & Walls by Samuel Tilman (The Benefit of the Doubt), overseen by Eklektik Productions; Krieg by Delphine Noels (Post-partum), carried by Frakas Productions, and Vigilante by Olivier Pairoux (SpaceBoy), produced by Kwassa Films.

Three first films are likewise receiving support in the development phase: L’Âge mûr by Jean-Benoît Ugeux (Wrong Men), L’Eveil de la Mangouste dorée by Fanny Desmares (Panique) and Brûleurs by Barney Frydman (Take Five).

Memorable works awarded writing aids, meanwhile, include new projects by Géraldine Doignon (Un homme à la mer), Vanja d’Alcantara (Kokoro) and Marc-Henri Wajnberg (I Am Chance), while foreign co-production subsidies have gone to new films by Bruno Dumont (co-produced in Belgium by Novak Prod) and Emmanuel Finkiel (co-produced in Belgium by Tarantula).