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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Belgium

Wallimage supports The Smurfs and the new Sam Garbarski film

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- The Belgian regional investment fund is backing ten new projects for its 105th support session

Wallimage supports The Smurfs and the new Sam Garbarski film
Director Sam Garbarski (© Cinevox)

At the end of June, Belgian regional investment fund Wallimage held its 105th support session, during which ten projects were selected, receiving a total sum of €1,691,000.

Among the projects receiving support is season 2 of The Smurfs. Truly the pride of Belgium, these tiny blue chaps created by Pierre “Peyo” Culliford in 1958 are starring in a new adaptation for the small screen – more precisely, a string of 11-minute episodes intended for the youngest audiences. Season 1, which was released in October 2020, scored insanely high TV ratings in France after being aired on TF1. The company in charge of producing this new generation of The Smurfs is Dreamwall.

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Wallimage is also throwing its weight behind the new feature by Sam Garbarski (Irina Palm [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sam Garbarski
interview: Sébastien Delloye
film profile
]
, Bye Bye Germany [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
). The Belgian director is trying his hand at a new genre: the sci-fi romcom. In The Perfect Boyfriend, he imagines a world in which androids have replaced humans for menial tasks, thus leading unskilled humans to pretend to be robots in order to find work! The screenplay is co-written by Thomas Gunzig (whom we have to thank for the scripts for the previous titles The Brand New Testament [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jaco van Dormael
film profile
]
by Jaco Van Dormael and Angel [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Harry Cleven
film profile
]
by Harry Cleven). The shoot will take place next autumn, with a cast including Niels Schneider and Bouli Lanners. The movie is being produced by Entre chien et loup (Belgium), Samsa Film (Luxembourg) and Madison Film (France).

Also of note is the support being lent to the documentary mini-series Heysel, Bloc Z, a genre that’s currently all the rage following the success of this highly specific format on Netflix. This opus will be helmed by Jan Verheyen, the director of several Flemish "blockbusters" (FC de Kampioenen 2 [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, 3 [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
and 4 [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, Dossier K [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, The Verdict [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
), and is being staged by Scope Pictures.

Finally, Wallimage will also be backing Bernard Bellefroid’s documentary Une des mille collines [+see also:
film review
interview: Bernard Bellefroid
film profile
]
, the disaster film Jour 37 by Quentin Reynaud, the new venture in the Elève Ducobu saga (a fourth instalment entitled Ducobu, Président d’Elie Seimoun), as well as the English-language historical series Marie-Antoinette, season 2 of L’Opéra (the first season of which is due to air in the autumn), and the comedy TV spots Chez Nadette and Une semaine sur deux.

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(Translated from French)

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