Seoul Sales Firm Finecut Lands Overseas Buyers for Two Korean Films
Seoul-based sales company Finecut has closed international deals for two Korean films, and it announced them on Friday, 30 October, the last day of TIFFCOM, the content market held alongside the Tokyo International Film Festival.
A sales company is the firm that finds buyers for a film in other countries. Those buyers are cinemas, TV channels and streaming services, and they pay for the right to show the film in their own territory. The Hollywood Reporter reported the deals.
The first film is Journey There, directed by Kim Jin-yu. It is Justin H. Min's first Korean production. It opened in South Korea on 28 October, after screenings at festivals in Moscow and at the New York Asian Film Festival. Finecut has sold it to KDDI in Japan, Lev Cinema in Israel, Izagur Media in Mongolia and Andrews Film in Taiwan. Kairos Distribution has also bought its inflight rights, meaning the right to show the film to passengers on aircraft.
The second is Nowhere to Lay My Eyes, the 35th feature by Hong Sangsoo. It won three prizes at the 79th Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland: best direction, best performance for Kim Minhee, and the Ecumenical Jury Prize, which is given by a panel linked to churches. Finecut has now added Kligger for Argentina, Carlotta Films for France, Mimosa Films for Japan and The Stone and the Plot for Portugal. Earlier buyers include Filmgarten in Austria, Hugoeast in China, Cinema Guild in North America, Atalante in Spain, Cola Films in Taiwan and the Institute of Contemporary Arts in the United Kingdom.
Finecut's own website lists Nowhere to Lay My Eyes as a Centrepiece selection at the Toronto International Film Festival, which is the festival's showcase section for its most prominent titles. Earlier this year, Variety reported that the company had closed sales for the animated feature Long Long Night and for Dora, a title that had screened at Cannes, ahead of Toronto. Variety also reported that Finecut had acquired international sales rights to the 3D animated feature Guardians of the Video Game ahead of the Toronto market.
Why does this matter to someone who never buys a cinema ticket in Seoul? Deals like these decide which countries see a film, and in what order. A title that sells in Japan, Taiwan and Israel on the same week is being planned for release in three places at once, often with local dubbing or subtitles already arranged. Festivals and markets are where those choices get made, long before a film reaches a local screen.
The next step is the release calendar in each territory. Several of these deals do not yet have announced opening dates.
