Hong Kong 's Media Asia Distribution has sold Korean rights to thriller Confession Of Pain to Showbox Mediaplex.

Directed by the Infernal Affairs team, Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, the film has grossed $8.8m (RMB68.4m) in China and a further $2.6m in Hong Kong since its release at Christmas.

'Media Asia is a company we've always wanted to work with - very professional - and we're happy to have made this our first deal with them,' said Showbox head of acquisitions Chris H. Lee.

The film stars Tony Leung Chiu-wai as a policeman whose father-in-law is murdered and Takeshi Kaneshiro as his private detective friend who tries to solve the case. Taiwanese actress Shu Qi and China 's Xu Jinglei round out the cast.

'It's a very well-made, stylish and fast-paced film with good music. Andrew Lau and Alan Mak do their best work as a team and we think it's Tony Leung's best performance yet,' says Lee.

Showbox is planning a late April or early May release. Japan 's Avex Entertainment, which is an equity investor in the film, is to release it in Japan this summer. France 's MK2 has all French-speaking rights.

The film is to have its first market screening at Berlin 's European Film Market (EFM).

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