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Ghibli's Earwig and the Witch Film Reveals Int'l Seller, Runtime via Cannes Selection
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The Festival de Cannes announced its Official Selection of films on Wednesday, and the list includes Pete Docter and Pixar's American film Soul.
A movie's international sales agent handles licensing offers from distribution companies in various regions. Wild Bunch has been a partner of Ghibli for over two decades on such films as Netflix's deal to stream Ghibli's previous works outside the United States, Canada, and Japan.
Earwig and the Witch adapts Toshio Suzuki is producing.
Jones published the novel in 2011, and publisher HarperCollins describes the story:
Not every orphan would love living at St. Morwald's Home for Children, but Earwig does. She gets whatever she wants, whenever she wants it, and it's been that way since she was dropped on the orphanage doorstep as a baby. But all that changes the day Bella Yaga and the Mandrake come to St. Morwald's, disguised as foster parents. Earwig is whisked off to their mysterious house full of invisible rooms, potions, and spell books, with magic around every corner. Most children would run in terror from a house like that . . . but not Earwig. Using her own cleverness—with a lot of help from a talking cat—she decides to show the witch who's boss.
Jones' Howl's Moving Castle also inspired a 2004 anime film by Hayao Miyazaki, and the film earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature.
Goro Miyazaki directed the Polygon Pictures, with assistance by Studio Ghibli.
While the physical event of this year's Cannes is canceled, the festival will collaborate with a number of other festivals in Toronto, Deauville, Angoulême, San Sebastian, New York, Busan, Lyon, and other cities to screen its Official Selection films at later dates, and it will also have its Marché du Film online screening event on June 22-26. Films previously scheduled for summer 2020 to spring 2021 are eligible for its Official Selection (though some films have chosen instead to await selection for Cannes 2021).
Sources: Studio Ghibli, Cannes Film Festival
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