Hong Sangsoo’s “Nowhere to Lay My Eyes,” which won a triple award at the 79th Locarno Film Festival, and Kim Jin-yu’s Korean debut “Journey There,” starring “Beef” actor Justin H. Min, have signed a new series of territory deals through Seoul-based sales outfit Finecut.
For “Nowhere to Lay My Eyes,” Carlotta Films received France, Mimosa Films Japan, Kligger Argentina, and The Stone and the Plot Portugal. The new deals add to previous deals from The Cinema Guild for North America, Filmgarten for Austria, Hugoeast for China, Atalante for Spain, Cola Films for Taiwan and the Institute of Contemporary Arts for the United Kingdom.
The film is Hong’s 35th feature film. It won best direction, best performance and the Ecumenical Jury Prize at Locarno. We see the director reuniting with regulars Kim Minhee (“By the Stream”) and Kwon Haehyo (“What Does Nature Say to You?”), and he makes his debut with Choi Myeonggil, including the TV drama “Durian’s Affair.” Jeonwonsa Film Co. produced it.
“Journey There” was sold to Andrews Film for Taiwan, KDDI Corporation for Japan, Lev Cinema for Israel and Izagur Media for Mongolia, while Kairos Distribution acquired the inflight rights. The series revolves around a middle-aged widow who begins to prepare for her own journey and gets caught up in relationships she’s never seen in her new apartment.
Min’s credits include Kogonada’s “After Yang” and the Netflix series “Beef” and “The Umbrella Academy.” The film is the second feature film of Kim, who received two awards at the 24th Schlingel International Film Festival with his first film “Bori”. Kim’s own company Pado produced it.
“The Journey There” was released in Korea on October 28. He has been invited to the Moscow International Film Festival, the New York Asian Film Festival, and most recently the Paris and London Korean film festivals.
Fresh from Busan’s Asian Content and Film Market, Finecut heads to AFM with a slate of films that includes the animated “Long Long Night.” The film will be presented here for the first time with its English dubbed version. There are also invitations from Toronto, Busan and Sitges.
Also on offer are “Dora,” which was selected for Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight and Busan’s Gala Presentation section, and the period fantasy romance “Wi-Fi Love in the Palace,” directed by Kim Young-hoon of the K-pop group The Boyz.