My Salinger Year to Open 2020 Berlinale
by Staff
(January 24th, 2020 – Montréal, QC) Canadian distributor Mongrel Media and Québec-based production company micro_scope have announced the selection of Philippe Falardeau’s My Salinger Year as the opening film of the 70th Berlin International Film Festival. It is a prestigious selection for the film, Philippe Falardeau’s eighth feature. Falardeau will join other world-renowned names who opened the Berlinale in the past ten years including Lone Scherfig, Wes Anderson, Etienne Comar, the Coen brothers, Isabel Coixet, Wong Kar-Wai, Benoît Jacquot and Werner Herzog.
My Salinger Year is produced by Luc Déry and Kim McCraw of micro_scope in
coproduction with Irish company Parallel Films. It stars Margaret Qualley (Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood) and two-time Golden Globe winner and three-time Academy Award nominee Sigourney Weaver, as well as Douglas Booth (The Riot Club), Seána Kerslake (The Hole in the Ground), Brían F. O’Byrne (Million Dollar Baby), Colm Feore (Bon Cop, Bad Cop 1 and 2) and Canadian Screen Award-winner Théodore Pellerin (Genèse, Chien de garde) in the major roles.
Set in New York City in the late ‘90s, Joanna (Margaret Qualley, pictured above) is a young aspiring writer who lands a day job at J.D. Salinger’s literary agency. While her eccentric, old-fashioned boss Margaret (Weaver) tasks her to process Salinger’s voluminous fan mail, Joanna struggles to find her own voice.
“I am thrilled (and also shocked) to learn that My Salinger Year will open the Berlinale,” said Philippe Falardeau. “We could not have hoped for a better World Premiere. When one looks at the films that have opened the festival in the past, my team and I can only be honored to be part of that list. I have very fond memories of Berlin where C’est pas moi, je le jure was presented and I am delighted to attend again with Margaret Qualley and Sigourney Weaver.” Presented at the Berlinale in 2009, Falardeau’s C’est pas moi, je le jure received the Crystal Bear and the Grand Prize from the International Jury, two awards attributed to the best film in the Generation Kplus program.
Producers Luc Déry and Kim McCraw said, “We are extremely happy to open the Berlinale, which is the best platform we could have hoped for Philippe’s film. This is one of the most important European festivals along with Cannes and Venice, and we hope that the professionals and the audience in Berlin will appreciate this film, carried by amazing actresses and actors.”Z
My Salinger Year is p roduced with the financial participation of Téléfilm Canada, Sodec, Screen Ireland, in association with Crave and Super Ecran. Mongrel Media (Métropole Films in Quebec) is distributing the film in Canada and Memento Films is handling international sales. My Salinger Year will be released in Canada in 2020.
