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The Korean films invited to the Cannes Film Festival met with a strong response and generated plenty of media attention but elsewhere in the festival’s home ground, the Palais des Festivals, Korean cinema was just as busy, with the country’s many distribution firms wheeling and dealing with their new slates during the Cannes Film Market. This year’s invited films drew plenty of interest from buyers, but their sales outfits received attention for many other films on their lineups, while other companies without films in the festival this year also had plenty to offer.

 

 

Top Korean distributor CJ Entertainment had a busy slate, led by PARK Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden, which was one of the films vying for the Palme d’Or this year. An erotic thriller based on Sarah Waters’ novel Fingersmith, the film built on its busy sales streak during February’s European Film Market, and has now become the most widely sold Korean film of all time overseas. Edging out BONG Joon-ho’s 2013 dystopian sci-fi thriller Snowpiercer’s 167 sales, the film has locked deals for a total of 176 territories, essentially giving it access to every film market in the world. Prior to Cannes, The Handmaiden had sold to 120 countries during EFM and the Hong Kong International Film and Television Market (FilMart), including a much-publicized sale to Amazon Studios for North America, where it will bow in October. The film is also slated to open in France, under the title Mademoiselle, in October. The film released domestically on June 1st.

 

During the market, CJ also presented their current thriller Phantom Detective, from A Werewolf Boy (2012) director JO Sung-hee, which has drawn 1.4 million viewers to theaters. Among their upcoming releases, CJ showcased their LEE Kyoung-mi political thriller The Truth Beneath, starring SON Ye-jin and KIM Joo-hyuk, due out June 23rd, and PARK Dae-min’s period comedy Seondal: The Man Who Sells the River, starring young actor YOO Seung-ho.

 

Another hit title during the festival and market was NA Hong-jin’s long-awaited third film THE WAILING, which screened out of competition on the Croisette and drew rave reviews. The film’s distributor FINECUT did not officially disclose what buyers had taken the film, but prior to Cannes, Well Go USA took the North American rights, in a deal brokered by the film’s financier 20th Century Fox, while the film's international distributor FINECUT closed with French outfit Metropolitan, which secured the film for France, French-speaking Benelux and Switzerland, where it will screen under the title The Strangers from July 3rd, early during the market. Chinese distributor Infotainment Media, as well as buyers in seven other countries, was reported to have taken the film as early as May 12th, six days before its official Cannes screening. FINECUT also secured a raft of deals after Cannes including Australia (JBG Pictures), Italy (Movies Inspired), Dutch Speaking Benelux (Contact Film), The Philippines (Viva Communications), Singapore (Clover Films), Spain (La Aventura) and many others. The film has been a smash hit in Korea, where it opened on May 11th, having already attracted six and a half million viewers.

 

Looking at the rest of their lineup, FINECUT also reported sales for its titles The World of Us, FATAL INTUITION and LOVE GUIDE FOR DUMPEES. The World of Us, a children’s drama marking the feature-length debut of the acclaimed short filmmaker YOON Ga-eun, debuted in the Generations section of the Berlin International Film Festival this year. The film was picked up for distribution in Taiwan (AV Jet), Benelux (MOOOV) and Former Yugoslavia (FIVIA d.o.o.). The film is expected to go on domestic release in June.

 

Dark revenge thriller FATAL INTUITION, featuring JOO Won and YOO Hae-jin, opened at number one in the Korean box office last fall and recently had its international premiere at the Udine Far East Film Festival. The film was bought by Clover Films (Singapore), AV Jet (Taiwan), Viva Communications (The Philippines) and Japan (Fine Films) while Blue Media Times picked up the new media rights for Mainland China. Blue Media Times also took the romantic comedy LOVE GUIDE FOR DUMPEES, which stars YOON Kye-sang and HAN Ye-ri. The film was also sold to Clover Films, Klockworx (Japan), Viva Communications (The Philippines) and Taewang Sangsa (Mongolia).

 

FINECUT, which also presented high-profile upcoming titles such as KIM Jee-woon’s The Age of Shadows and John H. LEE’s Operation Chromite, staged some market premieres with rough cuts of their films One Step, a music drama from Poongsan (2011) director JUHN Jai-hong which features singer Sandara PARK from K-pop group 2NE1 in the lead role, and the drama MISBEHAVIOR with KIM Ha-neul from Set Me Free (2014) director KIM Tae-yong.

 

Another company which has yet to disclose its sales for the market was Contents Panda, which presented YEON Sang-ho’s zombie thriller TRAIN TO BUSAN, one of this year’s midnight screenings at Cannes. The film drew interest from many buyers after a well-received market screening. The outfit also held a market screening for KWON Jong-kwan’s upcoming legal drama-thriller Proof of Innocence with KIM Myung-min.

 

 

Though they had no film in the festival this year, Showbox put forward a slate filled with enticing genre films which will be rolled out throughout the rest of the year. First up for the studio this summer will be family comedy Familyhood with KIM Hye-soo, while the season’s big release looks to be The Tunnel, a disaster film which stars HA Jung-woo and BAE Doo-na. Further afield releases include KWAK Kyung-taek’s supernatural thriller RV: Resurrected Victims and WON Shin-yun’s serial killer thriller Memories of a Murderer with SUL Kyung-gu. During the festival, the company also announced that SONG Kang-ho and European star Thomas Kretschmann would be teaming up for JANG Hun’s Gwangju Massacre-themed drama Taxi Driver, which will go before cameras in June.

 

Fellow studio Lotte Entertainment took meetings for their upcoming titles, including HUR Jin-ho’s Colonial Era drama The Last Princess, with SON Ye-jin and PARK Hae-il, as well as The Hunt with AHN Sung-ki and CHO Jin-woong. Previously screened Lotte titles also on sale were the Lunar New Year sci-fi drama SORI: Voice from the Heart and Colonial Era romantic drama LOVE, LIES, with HAN Hyo-joo, YOO Yeon-seok and CHUN Woo-hee.

 

Meanwhile Korean distributor M-Line Distribution scored sales for its mystery thriller INSANE. The film was bought by outfits in Japan (King Records), Taiwan (Long Shong) and China (YL). The thriller has proved a hit with Korean audiences, attracting 1.06 million viewers (USD 7.55 million) to theaters.

 

M-Line also launched sales on a number of new titles. Among them are a pair of film from KIDARI ENT. A Special Lady is a gangster action thriller with KIM Hye-soo in the lead role and LEE Sun-kyun co-starring, and the Colonial Era thriller The Tooth and the Nail from Epitaph (2007) director JUNG Sik with KO Soo, KIM Joo-hyuk and PARK Sung-woong. Also on their slate were the hit comfort women drama Spirits' Homecoming, the upcoming ice hockey drama Run-off, a sequel to Take Off (2009) featuring Su Ae and OH Dal-su, and Horror Stories III, the latest installment in the fright omnibus series.

 

Indie distributor 9ers Entertainment featured a number of films on their lineup, including the genre title Karaoke Crazies, which premiered at SXSW and will screen at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, among others in the near future, and THE GREAT ACTOR, the leading man debut of character actor OH Dal-su, which had its market premiere in FilMart. Among their new titles were A Stray Goat, one of this year’s Jeonju Cinema Projects and road comedy Detour with SHIN Ha-kyun, PARK Hee-soon and OH Man-seok.

 

Finally, Mirovision were in town with their flagship titles Canola, the CHANG-directed drama with YOUN Yuh-jung and long-in-the-making sequel My New Sassy Girl with returning star CHA Tae-hyun and K-pop star-turned-actress Victoria, both of which screened in the market. My New Sassy Girl, a co-production between ShinCine in Korea and China’s Beijing Skywheel Media, scored deals with Edko (Hong Kong & Macau), Pioneer (Philippines), Hollywood Thailand (Thailand), Clover Films (Malaysia) and BHD (Vietnam). Canola, which sold to Lemon Tree in China, recently had its Chinese remake rights picked up by Huace.

 

In addition, Mirovision announced that they had added trilogy of animated films to their lineup, the Era Trilogy, from animation production house Meditation With a Pencil, which includes the Green Days (2011), the in-production A Thousand Years Together, and the future title Asia Is a Silk Road. The company also revealed that they would be producing YIM Soon-rye’s forthcoming biopic of the acclaimed Korean painter LEE Jung-seob, due out in 2017.