South Korea’s Finecut has secured sales rights to upcoming animation Long Long Night and will introduce the project to international buyers at the European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin this week.
The 3D animated feature is based on an award-winning Korean novel by Ru Ri, which sold 700,000 copies and won the grand prize at the 2020 Munhakdongne Children’s Literature Awards. It has also been published in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey, with a forthcoming edition in China, and has been adapted into a stage musical.
The story follows the last rhino of his kind, who forms an unlikely bond with a penguin born from an abandoned egg and together set out on a journey toward the ocean. It is inspired by the true story of Sudan, the last surviving northern white rhino.
Marking the feature directorial debut of Youm Kyu-bock, the animation is using real-time 3D creation platform Unreal Engine to create realistic detailed imagery. Currently in production, it is produced by Googgoog and Studio Eon, and presented by The Contents On.
It adds to Finecut’s EFM slate, which includes The Day She Returns from prolific South Korean auteur Hong Sangsoo, which is due to world premiere in the Panorama section of the Berlinale.
Marking his seventh consecutive year at the festival, following last year’s What Does That Nature Say To You, the new film reunites Hong with actress Song Sunmi, who previously starred in In Our Day, which played as the closing film at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2023. Produced by Jeonwonsa Film Co., a theatrical release of The Day She Returns is being readied for the first half of this year.
Finecut’s slate also features Tristes Tropiques, an action-noir from genre-driven director Park Hoon-jung. Now in post-production, the film had its initial cut premiered in the Òrbita Competition section at Sitges.
The lineup also includes drama Journey There, starring Justin H. Min of Netflix series The Umbrella Academy, won which two awards at Busan; Wrangler, a psychological thriller that played at Vancouver; and Time Of Cinema, an anthology from Korean directors Lee Jong-pil, Yoon Ga-eun, and Jang Kun-jae.
No comments yet