Fortissimo's Touch of the Light sells to Cinema de Manon for Korea

Fortissimo Films has announced that their Busan New Currents title Touch of the Light has sold to Cinema de Manon for Korea, after a heated bidding war.

The film directed by Chang Jung-Chi made its international premiere at the Busan International Film Festival this week and was sold at the Asian Film Market. Presented by Wong Kar Wai, the inspirational film about love and discovery is Taiwan’s submission to the Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film category.

Blind Taiwanese piano prodigy Huang Yu-Siang, the subject and star of the film, gave a live performance after the film’s premiere screening in Busan.

Earlier this year at the Taipei International Film Festival, Touch of the Light picked up multiple awards and critical acclaim. It is currently on release in Taiwan through Warner Brothers and has made almost $1m at the box office after three weeks, while it has also just been nominated for multiple awards at the upcoming Golden Horse Festival.

Manon Jin’s Manon de Cinema plans to release the film in Korea this coming spring.

Fortissimo’s Michael J. Werner commented: “The producers, the cast and myself were extremely moved by the passion that Manon Jin immediately exhibited for the film after the very first screening. We were aware of the great success that she has had with world cinema including last year’s Three Idiots and the marketing, promotion and release plans that she developed and presented for Touch of the Light convinced us that this very special film would be in excellent hands with her.”