Berlin: Dan Scanlon Talks Directing Pixar’s ‘Onward’ – Variety

Does derby defeat show that Manchester City have binned off the Premier League? Should they?

BERLIN — Handled by TF1 Studio, Freddie Highmore heist thriller “Way Down” has pre-sold most of the world’s key distribution territories.

Cate Blanchett has said that on the back of Harvey Weinstein’s conviction, the industry must move forward and ensure a new culture is established, particularly when it comes to parity.

Actors, much like any other career, have milestone goals. Those goals can be winning awards, working with certain Directors, or even being a superhero, comic book or real life.

Three distant mountains; three chatty encounters between long-acquainted women; three comically tiresome intrusions from self-important men shot only from behind. Prolific South Korean arthouse staple Hong Sangsoo has dealt in playful, internally rhyming triplicate before, but never with such a gently sardonic female focus, and seldom as straightforwardly as in his airy, charming Berlin competition trinket “The Woman Who Ran.” (Spoiler alert: No women run.)

“Dome 16,” a futuristic sci-fi climate drama from creator Thomas Seeber Torjussen and Norway’s Tordenfilm, has a new co-producer in Fleur Winters from Dutch production house Big Blue. It’s the second time the companies have joined forces, previously co-producing NRK’s popular teenage series “ZombieLars.”

Animation feature “The Journey,” co-produced by Saudi animation studios Manga Productions and Japan’s Toei Animation, has struck a deal with Dubai-based exhibitor Vox Cinemas for theatrical distribution across the Middle East and North Africa.

Searchlight Pictures has emerged as the frontrunner for the Olivia Wilde-directed gymnastics movie “Perfect,” amid a days-long bidding war out of Berlin’s EFM.

BERLIN —   Ventana Sur, the biggest film-TV industry event in Latin America – and bulwarked by a hugely popular Cannes Film Week hosted by Thierry Fremaux – has set dates for its 12th edition, and announced a new venue in Buenos Aires.

Queen Latifah and Madalen Mills star in Ray Giarratana’s “The Tiger Rising.” The drama is based on Kate DiCamillo’s New York Times Bestselling children’s book and produced by Deborah Giarratana and Ryan Donnell Smith.  Highland Film Group is handling worldwide sales, which are under at the European Film Market in Berlin.

Queen Latifah and Madalen Mills star in Ray Giarratana’s “The Tiger Rising.” The drama is based on Kate DiCamillo’s New York Times Bestselling children’s book and produced by Deborah Giarratana and Ryan Donnell Smith.  Highland Film Group is handling worldwide sales, which are under at the European Film Market in Berlin.

At first glance, Onward, Disney-Pixar's animated fantasy film about two teenage elves (voiced by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt) on a magic quest to bring back their dead father, doesn't look autobiographical.But director Dan Scanlon says his inspiration for the film came directly from his own life. Like Holland's character Ian, Scanlon lost his father at an early age.

Pixar’s “Onward” saw its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, and the film’s director, Dan Scanlon, and producer, Kori Rae, talked to the press at the festival about the film, which follows brother elves on a magical quest to reconnect with their late father.

It was just four years ago that Berlin hosted the world premiere of Barakah Meets Barakah, the debut feature from Saudi director Mahmoud Sabbagh.

By Nancy Tartaglione

Under the new leadership of industry veteran Kristina Zimmermann, Orange Studio, the film/TV division of the French telco group Orange, is launching three new projects at Berlin’s European Film Market: “Last Film Show,” “Old Fashioned” and “Love Song for Tough Guys.”

By Tom Grater

“Black Mirror” and “Peaky Blinders” producer Endemol Shine Group has set up a new scripted label in Germany, Variety can reveal.

From the moment he read Joanna Rakoff’s memoir about literary New York, Philippe Falardeau knew his eighth movie, My Salinger Year, would be his first with a female protagonist."I’ve never been as excited about one of my films, because it’s told from a woman’s perspective," says the Quebec director, who rose to prominence with the Oscar-nominated classroom drama Monsieur Lazhar in 2011.Now Falardeau, 52, finds himself opening the Berlin Film Festival with this Margaret Qualley and Sigourney