Leading Korean sales company Finecut has closed pre-sale deals for Park Hoon-jung’s “Tristes Tropiques” in five territories following a short-footage screening, with the full feature set to world premiere at the Cannes Film Market.
Splendid Film has acquired the film for Germany, Austria and Switzerland; PT Prima Cinema Multimedia has taken Indonesia; Media4Fun has closed Poland; Multivision India has secured the Indian Subcontinent; and Izagur Media has picked up Mongolia. Splendid Film has previously released Park’s work in Germany, including the “The Witch” series and “The Childe.”
“There is no doubt that Park Hoon-jung knows how to do action, and the elevator scene in ‘Tristes Tropiques’ is already a cult moment,” said Marko Möllers, senior VP at Splendid Film. “It’s a must-have for every fan of Asian and action cinema.”
The film follows a unit of young assassins who belong to the titular organization, trained in a tropical rainforest by a figure known only as Master. As mutual distrust fractures the group, they vow bloody revenge. The cast includes Lee Sin-young (“Rebound”), Park Yu-rim (“Ballerina”), Kim Myung-min (“V.I.P.”) and Park Hae-soo (“Squid Game 1”), alongside Taiwanese actors Chen Yi-Wen (“The Pig, the Snake, and the Pigeon”), Wang Po-Chieh (“Eye of the Storm”) and Austin Lin (“96 Minutes”).
An incomplete cut screened at the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival last year and at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, where it won the Silver Raven Award. The upgraded full-length version will receive its world premiere at the Cannes Film Market.
The film is produced by Park’s own Gold Moon Pictures and co-produced by Studio & New. Mindmark, a creative content studio under the Shinsegae Group, whose recent slate includes “Boss,” “A Normal Family,” and “Love Reset,” serves as presenter.
Park is best known for “New World,” the “The Witch” franchise, and “Night in Paradise,” a Netflix original that screened out of competition at the 2020 Venice International Film Festival.
Finecut will also hold a 15-minute footage presentation at the Cannes Film Market for “Long Long Night,” a 3D animated feature based on an award-winning Korean novel. The story traces the last rhino of his kind and a penguin hatched from an abandoned egg. The source novel has been published in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey, with a China edition forthcoming, and has since been adapted as a stage musical.
The company additionally represents July Jung’s “Dora,” selected for this year’s Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes — Jung’s third consecutive Cannes invitation following “Next Sohee” and “A Girl at My Door.” The film stars Kim Doyeon and Ando Sakura.
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