Perspectives : Wallimage génère un effet de levier record pour l’audiovisuel wallon | mercredi 18/03/26

·22 min·2 clips

For every euro Wallimage invests, nearly eight euros are spent in Walloon studios and technical services.

1. Trends-Tendances Perspectives interviews Virginie Nouvel, director general of Wallimage, the Walloon fund dedicated to audiovisual, video games, and digital creativity. 2. Nouvel has led Wallimage since 2020; the fund marks 25 years of activity in 2026 and plans a networking event at RTBF studios. 3. The episode's core question is how Wallimage multiplies public investment into private economic activity across cinema, gaming, and digital creativity sectors. 4. The fund's 2025 co-production average shows 1 euro of Wallimage investment generating nearly 8 euros of spending across Walloon special effects studios, post-production facilities, sound studios, and on-set technicians. 5. Animation projects perform at an even higher ratio, generating nearly 10 euros of Walloon spending per euro invested, making the sector particularly attractive to the fund. 6. In 2025, Wallimage supported 47 audiovisual works, sourcing projects from Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, and occasionally Canada — prioritising any project that commits to significant Walloon production spending. 7. Belgian cinema admissions dropped from approximately 20 million spectators in 2019 to barely 15 million in 2024, a decline Nouvel attributes to competition from streaming platforms and growing concentration around large American productions. 8. Nouvel cites an industry estimate that 51% of content consumed across Europe now originates from outside Europe, flagging it as a structural challenge for European producers. 9. Wallimage is oversubscribed: Wallonia alone holds an equivalent financing volume to Brussels and Flanders combined, yet the fund receives more applications than it can support within its current budget envelope. 10. The fund cannot expand its portfolio significantly because its budget allocation has been static, and Nouvel notes that in an ideal scenario an additional 8 million euros could be deployed while maintaining quality standards. 11. In 2026, Wallimage relaunches its gaming line with a total of 2 million euros: 1 million in public subventions and 1 million from the fund's own resources, targeting Walloon game studios. 12. A previous Walloon recovery plan provided 4 million euros to the gaming sector, generating an approximately 16 million euro ripple effect across Walloon studios — a 4:1 multiplier. 13. Fishing Cactus, cited as a flagship Walloon game studio, employs up to 100 developers at peak production periods, illustrating the sector's employment potential. 14. In 2025, the film location scouting service managed 674 shooting days, generating an estimated 7 million euros of Walloon economic impact at average daily spending rates of 40,000 euros for features and 32,000 euros for series. 15. Nouvel notes Wallimage has never awarded grants: on audiovisual projects it is a co-producer, on gaming it is a co-investor, and on enterprises it acts as a lender or equity shareholder under market-rate conditions. 16. The fund has achieved investment exits in the millions from earlier participations, citing DocStudio, Musimat, and Happy Studio as examples of profitable exits. 17. Belgafilm, an 80-year-old Belgian francophone audiovisual company and 15-year Wallimage financial partner, filed for bankruptcy after its expansion into white cinema hall management failed — a loss Nouvel describes as genuinely sad. 18. The interview follows a structured format: Nouvel methodically presents Wallimage's different activity streams, with the host probing edge cases including budget constraints, sector concentration, content creator financing, and failed investments. 19. Best suited to listeners interested in Walloon cultural economics, audiovisual industry finance, and public fund management. 20. Listeners seeking broad cultural debates or content about specific films will find the episode primarily focused on fund mechanics and economic multipliers.

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