‘Toy Story’ Producer Bonnie Arnold Honored at Annecy Animation Festival

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Locarno Film Festival will honor multiple Oscar winner Ben Burtt — the sound designer, editor and voice actor behind the ‘Star Wars‘ and ‘Indiana Jones’ franchises — with its lifetime achievement award dedicated to creative pioneers. The prominent Swiss fest celebrating international indie cinema will be feting Burtt, best known for voicing Wall-E and creating Darth Vader’s mechanical breathing, with its Vision Award Ticinomoda. 1977’s “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope” was one of the first films he worked on.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent A raft of high-concept unscripted formats from the likes of Yes Yes Media, Keshet International and Fulwell 73 were informally presented this week at the first edition of the International Creative Alliance Days hosted by Satisfaction Group, the Paris-based outfit founded by entrepreneur and famed TV host Arthur Essebag. The two-day event brought together creatives and industry players who are either part of Satisfaction or doing business with the company, notably acquisition executives from M6, France Televisions and Amazon Prime Video, among others.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Apple Tree Productions, the Danish company headed by “The Killing” producer Piv Bernth, is reteaming with the creative duo behind feelgood period drama “Chorus Girls,” Ditte Hansen and Louise Mieritz, Bernth told Variety at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival. Hansen and Mieritz are in development on a comedy-drama series, with the working title “Feelings and Things,” set in a shopping mall in contemporary Denmark. It will have the same underlying message as “Chorus Girls”: “We are stronger together,” Bernth said.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Flow,” a director-driven animated feature which world premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and just swept three awards at Annecy Film Festival, has been embraced by a raft of major distributors in key territories, including the U.K., Japan, South Korea, Germany, Spain and Italy. The movie is represented internationally by Charades.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Extinction,” the Malaysian-produced animation that is playing at the Shanghai International Film Festival, has struck its first international rights sales deals. The film was recently picked up by All Rights Entertainment, the Paris, Hong Kong and Los Angeles-based sales agency. All Rights has subsequently licensed the title to Magic Film for the CIS region, to Dazzler Media for the U.K., to Red Cape Distribution for Israel and to Bir Film for Turkey.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Actor-director Viggo Mortensen, actor Clive Owen and actor-director Daniel Brühl will be honored at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Central and Eastern Europe’s leading movie event, which will open with Mortensen’s “The Dead Don’t Hurt.” The festival also revealed Wednesday that director-producer Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter-director Nicole Holofcener will attend the event. Mortensen, Owen and Brühl will each receive the Festival President’s Award.

Naman Ramachandran Ketan Mehta, the revered Indian filmmaker who also serves as founder and chair of animation house Cosmos-Maya, known for long-running animated Nickelodeon show “Motu Patlu,” says that the global companies who operate TV channels in India create content that is local-specific and fails to resonate with international audiences. Mehta was speaking at the ongoing Mumbai International Film Festival which hosted a lively panel debate on animation. The discussion featured some of the top Iranian and Indian names in the business.

Marta Balaga The Monte-Carlo Television Festival has rolled out the blue carpet welcoming star guests for its 63rd edition, but it also has an eye on the future.“We’re always working towards expanding and developing the festival. Each year, we get better and better,” executive director Cécile Menoni says.Listing “fabulous highlights,” Menoni gushes over this year’s Crystal Nymph winner: Morgan Freeman.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Prince Albert II of Monaco opened the 63rd Monte-Carlo Television Festival Friday, accompanied by a panoply of stars led by Morgan Freeman, “SEAL Team’s” David Boreanaz and “Bridgerton’s” Simone Ashley. The opening ceremony took place under stormy skies at the Grimaldi Forum, where the world premiere of limited series “The Gray House” opened the event.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief All Rights Entertainment, the Paris, Hong Kong and Los Angeles-based international film agency has picked up international sales duties on animated children and family feature “Out of the Nest.” The film had its world premiere this week at the Annecy International Animation Festival. In the Kingdom of Castilia, days from the coronation of the new Emperor and Empress, their seven royal fledglings are taken and it’s up to one hero to return them safely; a teenage delivery boy, Arthur the Goat. His dreams of becoming a world-class barber are put on hold when he becomes the unwitting guardian of the royal heirs.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s a big one in the European M&A world. Beta Film has taken a stake in Number 9 TV, a new small screen subsidiary of Carol and Living producer Number 9 Films.

Crunchyroll Senior Vice President of Global Commerce Mitchel Berger was in ebullient mood as he gave a talk on the growing global reach of anime at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival this week.

It may only be the middle of June, but Oscar season planning is in full effect. The Academy Museum recently revealed its honorees for the next Academy Museum Gala and today, The Academy announced the recipients of honorary Oscars at the 2024 Governors Awards.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Quincy Jones, the first Black producer to be nominated for best picture, and legendary casting director Juliet Taylor will receive honorary Oscars at this year’s Governors Awards, announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Wednesday. Screenwriter and director Richard Curtis will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, while James Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli will be bestowed with the Irving G.

Richard Curtis brought Christmas cheer to an unseasonably drizzly day at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on Tuesday as he presented his first animated feature That Christmas in a Work in Progress session.

It has been a high-profile 12 months for Mediawan Kids & Family thanks to subsidiary Method Animation’s involvement in the Ladybug & Cat Noir franchise, which has been enjoying box office success worldwide with a first feature film adaptation.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Mediawan Kids & Family is unveiling a raft of prestige animated feature projects at the Annecy Film Festival, including “Meow-woof” by Louis Clichy (“Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion”) and “Twisted” by Lino DiSalvo (“Playmobil”). Emmanuel Jacomet, who worked for over a decade alongside Aton Soumache and Dimitri Rassam on high profile IP’s such as “The Little Prince,” “Miraculous Ladybug” and “Playmobil,” took over the film division of Mediawan Kids & Family under a year ago with the ambition to develop a mix of mainstream franchise-based projects and auteur-driven 2D titles.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent U.S. producer Stacey Sher — whose credits include Quentin Tarantino‘s “Pulp Fiction,” “Django Unchained” and “The Hateful Eight” as well as Steven Soderbergh’s “Erin Brockovich,” “Out of Sight” and “Contagion” — will be honored by the Locarno Film Festival with its Raimondo Rezzonico Prize, which celebrates a producer who epitomizes the indie ethos.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Eurozoom, a leading French distributor for Japanese animation, has forged a strategic partnership with major French animation producer Special Touch Studios, led by founder and CEO Sebastien Onomo. “We both share the same passion for animation and want to tell bold stories with a particular attention to professional diversity,” said Eurozoom’s CEO-Founder Amel Lacombe, who added that they were jointly working on a six-animation feature lineup. Leading the pack is “Melvile,” directed by Romain Renard and Fursy Teyssier.

Marta Balaga It’s all about a generous helping of self-love in Kristina Dufková‘s stop-motion offering “Living Large,” which screens in Annecy’s Contrechamp competition this week and debuts its trailer exclusively with Variety. For teenager Ben, it’s not always that easy. Despite the bullying and the mockery he has to endure at school, he’s never worried too much about his weight.