08/03/2012 - An improbable cast for the 44th session of the Walloon support fund, with Boule et Bill, Boris Vian, Michel Gondry, a female rock singer, and a Dutch singer

Wallimage has announced the results of its 44th session. In the Belgian majority productions section, they have chosen Bici, the story of a cheeky and excentric female rock singer who, after a heartbreak, decides to sacrifice her band. It's young Belgian director Dominique Laroche's first film, whose progress is equally followed in France, where the film is produced by Hold Up Films, because she participated in the Emergence workshops and has received funds for the film. In Belgium, Versus Production has taken on the film, already supported for its screenplay development by CCA. Newcomer Ambre Grouwels, who is an opera singer, will take on the film's main role.

The other Belgian film to be supported will also bring a newcomer to the silver screen. Dutch singer Dave recently revealed that he had almost played Van Gogh's brother for Maurice Pialat. It must have inspired Joël Franka, who with Une chanson pour ma mère (lit. "A song for my mother") will make the singer the idol of a women torn between the two men of her life: her husband and her favourite singer. Filming should start within the next few weeks.

As for prestigious co-productions, Wallimage has bet on the talent of Xabi Molia (Eight Times Up), whose second film Les Conquérants (lit. "The conquerors"), will bring together Denis Podalydès and Mathieu Demy. They have also bet on a new cinema version of Belgian comic book heroes Boule & Bill by Alexandre Charlot and Frank Magnier, with Marina Foïs and Frank Dubosc as the parents, and a little animation to spice it all up. Nexus will produce the film for Belgium. Last but not least, Wallimage will support the latest slightly crazy project by Michel Gondry, who has decided to adapt nothing less than Froth of the Daydream by Boris Vian, with a cast of Audrey Tautou, Romain Duris, Gad Elmaleh, Léa Seydoux and Omar Sy, behind the camera of the Belgian Christophe Beaucarne. A risky bet, that we imagine full of hand-made special effects (from Liège!), for which filming will start mid-April…