Korean sales company FineCut has signed new deals in Toronto for two auteur titles - Hong Sang-soo’s Hahaha and Lee Chang-dong’s Poetry.

Hong Sang-soo’s Hahaha, a prize-winner in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard earlier this year, has sold to Les Acacias for France, P&I Distribution for former USSR territories and Emphasis Entertainment for worldwide in-flight rights. This is in addition to a previous deal with Catchplay for Taiwan.

Meanwhile, FineCut has sold Cannes Best Screenplay award-winner Poetry to Mokep for Hungary, Edko Films for Hong Kong and Emphasis Entertainment for worldwide in-flight rights.

These sales are in addition to a raft of deals after Cannes including with Diaphana (France), Kino-Lorber (US), Golem (Spain), and Lumiere (Benelux). The film will have its North American premiere in the Masters section at the Toronto festival.

On Aug 25, Diaphana released Poetry in France on 67 prints. So far it has taken in more than 100,000 admissions, recording over twice the opening score of Lee’s previous film Secret Sunshine – also distributed by Diaphana - which got the Best Actress award in Cannes. The company is planning to widened Poetry’s release by 22 prints.

FineCut is also presenting Argentine director Pablo Trapero’s Carancho in Toronto’s Contemporary World Cinema section. It premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard this year, and sold to Golem for Spain, Strand Releasing for US, and Clipartfilms for Greece.

The sales agent also has Kim Jee-woon’s controversially gruesome I Saw The Devil in Special Presentations at Toronto. The film is also invited to San Sebastian’s Competition directly afterwards.

Topics