EXCLUSIVE: Fortissimo Films has acquired international sales rights to Chinese director Shen Ao’s latest film Escape From The Outland and is launching sales at AFM.
The Amsterdam and Beijing-based sales agent is handling distribution across Europe, Latin America, and CIS. The release in mainland China is scheduled on December 31.
The film reunites director Shen with producer Ning Hao, following their smash hit No More Bets, a cyber scam thriller based on the brutal inside story of cyber-fraud that grossed $542m (RMB3.85bn) in China alone in 2023.
Inspired by a true story, Escape From The Outland follows a Chinese journalist, his doctor wife, and an engineer who are kidnapped by a terrorist group amid sudden chaos in a war-torn region. Trapped with a fellow businessman, they endure 105 days of terror and defiance.
Shot on location overseas, the film adopts a documentary-style visual approach. The cast is led by Xiao Yang (Sheep Without A Shepherd), Qi Xi (So Long, My Son), Simon Yam (Election), and Zheng Kai (Pegasus 2).
Fortissimo’s recent Chinese-language lineup includes Zhao Linshan’s 731 and Yu Shui’s animation Nobody, both are box office hits; Yu Ao and Zhou Tienan’s animation The Girl Who Stole Time, which played in Annecy and won best animation feature at Fantasia this year; Li Yang’s Escape From The 21st Century, which played in Toronto last year, and Kang Bo’s Family At Large.
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