Wild Bunch has acquired French rights to Mamoru Hosoda´s Directors´ Fortnight-bound animation Mirai and will release later this year. The team behind the movie has also released a first-look image of the project. Animation maestro Hosoda (The Boy And The Beast) will be the first Japanese animation director to present a world premiere on the Croisette. Mirai charts the story of a four-year-old boy who feels his place in his parent´s affections threatened by the arrival of a baby sister until she reveals herself to be a girl from the future. Hosoda´s studio Studio Chizu produces while Toho will release in Japan this July. Charades handles sales and has already sold the title to the U.S. (GKids), Spain (A Contracorriente), the U.K./Ireland (Anime Limited), Italy (Dynit), Canada (MK2 Mile End), Germany (AV Visionen), Latin America (KEM), Turkey (Filma), Benelux (Cineart), CIS (Exponenta), Hungary (Mozinet), Ex-Yugoslavia (Radar), the Middle East (Selim Ramia and Co) and Australia/New Zealand (Madman). Pic will be titled Mirai, Ma Petite Soeur in France.
Meanwhile, ahead of Cannes Scandi sales powerhouse TrustNordisk has picked up international sales rights to Paradise War (working title), the biopic of Swiss activist Bruno Manser who disappeared in the Borneo rainforest in the early 1980s. Niklaus Hilber directs the feature about Manser´s journey into the Borneo jungle to live with the nomadic Penan tribe. When the existence of the Penan is threatened by relentless deforestation, the environmentalist takes up the fight against logging companies but pays the ultimate sacrifice. Swiss-based A Film Company produces the movie which stars Sven Schelker (The Circle) as Manser. The film was shot in Switzerland, New York, Budapest and Borneo. Ascot Elite handles distribution of the Swiss-Austrian co-pro in Switzerland.