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FUNDING Belgium

Ben Stassen and Fabrice du Welz on the programme of Wallimage's first funding session of 2018

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- Wallonia’s regional investment fund is supporting two new Belgian features: The Queen’s Corgi and Adoration

Ben Stassen and Fabrice du Welz on the programme of Wallimage's first funding session of 2018
The Queen’s Corgi by Ben Stassen and Vincent Kestelot

For its first financial support session of 2018, Wallimage, the Walloon regional investment fund, is throwing its weight behind two new Belgian features: The Queen’s Corgi [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ben Stassen
film profile
]
 by Ben Stassen and Vincent Kestelot, and Adoration [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fabrice du Welz
film profile
]
 by Fabrice du Welz.

The next production by the Belgian king of 3D animation and undisputed champ of the box office, Ben Stassen, sounds fairly ambitious. After The Son of Bigfoot [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ben Stassen
film profile
]
, which came out last summer, nWave studios are back with The Queen’s Corgi, depicting the adventures of Rex, the Queen of England’s favourite dog, which suddenly finds itself separated from its owner. The film is endowed with a budget of €22 million and is slated for a 2019 release. Its international sales agent, Charades, makes no bones about comparing it to Disney classics such as Lady and the Tramp and The Fox and the Hound. It would be an understatement to say that we have high hopes for Stassen’s new opus, the initial images of which were recently unveiled at Berlin.

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Meanwhile, Adoration is the last instalment in Fabrice du Welz’s Ardennes-set trilogy, which kicked off with The Ordeal [+see also:
trailer
interview: Fabrice du Welz
film profile
]
 and Alleluia [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Fabrice Du Welz
film profile
]
. The film follows 12-year-old Paul, a young boy living with his mother, who works as a cleaning lady at a private hospital deep in the woods. When schizophrenic teenager Gloria arrives, he falls in love with her and convinces himself to help her escape, whatever the cost. The lead roles have been entrusted to Thomas Gioria (Custody [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Legrand
film profile
]
) and young Belgian actress Fantine Harduin (Happy End [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Michael Haneke
film profile
]
). They are flanked by a five-star cast comprising Emmanuelle BéartBéatrice DalleBenoît PoelvoordeLaurent Lucas and Peter Van den Begin. The movie will be produced by Vincent Tavier for Panique and co-produced in France by The Jokers, which previously co-produced du Welz’s US film Message from the King [+see also:
trailer
interview: Fabrice du Welz
film profile
]
. The sales will be handled by Memento, and the shoot will take place this summer.

Wallimage is also backing three French films: Ma mère est folle [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
 by Diane Kurys, co-produced by Nexus FactoryPremier de la classe by Stéphane Ben Lahcen, co-produced by Umedia; and The Bouncer by Julien Leclercq, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, which is a co-production by 1080 Films, the company founded by Nabil Ben Yadir and Benoît Roland.

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(Translated from French)

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