Dutch-Hong Kong sales outfit, Fortissimo Film Sales, has picked up world rights to Japanese-Korean co-production KT, which is set to screen in competition at the forthcoming Berlin Film Festival.

Directed by Japan's Junji Sakamoto, the film is a thriller about the kidnapping of South Korea's current president Kim Dae Jung. It is co-produced by Korea's Digital Site Korea and three Japanese partners - producer-distributor Cinequanon, satellite channel Eisei Gekijo and broadcaster Mainichi Broadcasting. The Japanese-Korean cast includes Sato Koichi, Kim Kab-soo, Choi Il-hwa and Harada Yoshio.

The film is scripted by Arai Haruhiko, based on Nakazono Eisuke's novel about the mysterious kidnapping. Kim Dae Jung was abducted from a Tokyo hotel on August 8, 1973, and reappeared five days later in Seoul, blindfolded, wounded and dazed. At the time, he was an outspoken critic of South Korea's military dictatorship, but details of who was behind the kidnapping and who intervened have only recently emerged. He was elected as South Korea's president in 1998 and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize soon after.

Meanwhile Fortissimo also confirmed that it has sold Tian Zhuangzhuang's remake of the Chinese classic, Springtime In A Small Town, to Japan's Daiei.

Fortissimo's slate also includes All About Lily Chou Chou, directed by Japan 's Shunji Iwai, and Walking On Water from Macao-born Australian director Tony Ayres, both of which will screen in the Panorama sidebar at Berlin.