03/04/2024 - The Film Commission is backing 61 film projects, spanning multiple genres, to the tune of €4.08 million

Director Lucas Belvaux, whose film Les Tourmentés is receiving support

The results of the third 2023 session of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation Film and Audiovisual Centre’s Film Commission have just been unveiled. It’s worth noting that four majority Belgian features have been supported at the production stage, starting with the new movie by Lucas Belvaux (following his 2020 Cannes-label film Home Front [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lucas Belvaux
film profile]; he is best known for Not My Type [+see also:
trailer
interview: Lucas Belvaux
film profile] and the Cannes competition entry The Right of the Weakest [+see also:
trailer
film profile]). In the autumn, the filmmaker will get stuck into the adaptation of his first novel, Les Tourmentés, which was published in 2022. The story follows Skender, a former legionnaire who has been homeless since his wife, Manon, left him. He agrees to a crazy proposition by his former sergeant Max’s extremely wealthy boss: to serve as game during a human safari, in exchange for a hefty salary. In this way, he hopes his death will allow Manon and their two sons to be free from want. The main broker of this unusual contract, Max, thinks everything is under control, but even before the departure for the manhunt, which is due to take place six months later, nothing seems to be going as planned… A tantalising cast has been announced, bringing together Niels Schneider and Ramzy Bedia (who have just played opposite each other in the intense series Of Money and Blood [+see also:
interview: Xavier Giannoli
series profile]), as well as Linh-Dan Pham and Déborah François. The film will be produced by Artemis Productions in Belgium and by Bizibi in France.

Olivier Pairoux is another director being backed at the production stage. After making SpaceBoy [+see also:
film review
interview: Olivier Pairoux
film profile], a family adventure film, he drastically switches genres with Vigilante, which tells the story of Morville, the titular lone vigilante hunting down paedophiles on social networks. After a friend of his is assaulted, he decides to take the law into his own hands and will find himself having to face up to the moral implications of his actions. As was the case with SpaceBoy, the movie is again being staged by Belgian outfit Kwassa Films. It will be co-produced by Luxembourg’s Deal Productions.

Two feature debuts are also being backed at the production stage. With Devolution, Nicolas Boucart (who turned heads with his short film Icarus) plunges into a post-apocalyptic world where a virus has turned human beings into quadrupeds. Anna, a pregnant woman who has not been infected, makes a discovery that could allow her to envisage a brighter future. The film is being produced by Tarantula (Belgium).

Meanwhile, Mehdi Pierret (the director of the short film The Furniture) is working on Rouler des mécaniques, the tale of a thirtysomething obsessed with his car, Nicoletta, an old banger that he fully intends to save from the scrapyard at any cost. Rouler des mécaniques is being staged by Novak Prod.

It's also worth noting that a considerable number of films are in the pipeline, as no fewer than seven projects are being supported at the development stage, among which we find the new effort by the singular duo made up of Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni (Madly in Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Raphaël Balboni & Ann Sirot
film profile], the Cannes Critics’ Week entry The (Ex)perience of Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ann Sirot & Raphael Balboni
film profile]), who are currently developing Un détour par Diane with Les Films du Fleuve, the company run by the Dardenne brothers. There’s also the new movie by Flemish filmmaker Michaël R Roskam (Bullhead [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bart Van Langendonck
interview: Michaël R. Roskam
film profile], the Venice-selected Racer and the Jailbird [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michael Roskam
film profile]), who is working on Le Faux Soir, a historical film that looks back on a crucial episode of World War II in Belgium, and which will be produced by Frakas Productions, in addition to Xavier Seron with the black comedy La baguette magique and Benoît Mariage with La coupeuse de feu.

(Translated from French)