Finecut secures Japanese film distribution for Korean festival titles
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
Korean sales agency Finecut has finalised Japanese distribution deals for two of its festival titles, with Geek Pictures acquiring 3D animated feature "Long Long Night" and July Jung's Cannes-selected drama "Dora". The agreements reflect sustained international appetite for Korean cinema during the autumn festival circuit, with both films already carrying strong pedigree from earlier premieres and selections before securing Japanese distribution.
"Long Long Night", the feature debut of director Youm Kyu Bock, adapts a bestselling Korean novel that has sold over 800,000 copies and appeared on Munich's 2021 White Ravens list; after premiering in Toronto's Centrepiece section, it is set for competition berths at both Busan and Sitges. "Dora", July Jung's third feature, premiered at Cannes' Directors' Fortnight and has since been invited to Busan's Gala Presentation section, with Finecut also striking a separate Taiwan deal for the film with Light Year Images. Finecut's broader Toronto slate includes animated feature "Guardians Of The Video Game" and Japanese filmmaker Takuya Miyahara's horror-thriller "Wash Away", which is due to premiere at Sitges.
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In short
- Finecut sells "Long Long Night" and "Dora" to Japan's Geek Pictures
- "Long Long Night" also heads to Busan and Sitges competitions
- "Dora" additionally sold to Taiwan's Light Year Images
How this story developed
- 2 months ago The Japanese pickups for "Long Long Night" and "Dora" are now framed as part of a wider Finecut sales wave topped by Hong Sangsoo's Locarno prize-winner "Nowhere to Lay My Eyes", underscoring Korean cinema's broader commercial push ahead of Toronto.
- 2 months ago Finecut has secured Japanese buyer Geek Pictures for two Toronto-slate titles, the 3D animated feature "Long Long Night" and Cannes Directors' Fortnight entry "Dora", both riding strong festival pedigree into the autumn selling season.
Full account
Korean sales company Finecut has concluded a series of international licensing agreements for several of its festival titles in the run-up to the Toronto International Film Festival, with Japanese distributor Geek Pictures emerging as the buyer for two of the highest-profile properties. The slate also includes a raft of other territorial sales, most notably for Hong Sangsoo's Locarno award-winner, alongside further titles Finecut plans to showcase to buyers while in Toronto.
Among the Japanese acquisitions is Long Long Night, a computer-animated feature that marks the directorial debut of Youm Kyu Bock. The production is adapted from a Korean novel inspired by true events, a book that has reportedly sold upwards of 800,000 copies and was named to the International Youth Library's White Ravens selection in 2021. Geek Pictures acquired the film ahead of its world premiere in Toronto's Centrepiece programme, after which it is due to screen in competition at the Busan International Film Festival and then in the Anima't strand at Sitges. Geek Pictures' chief executive praised the film's depiction of a friendship between a rhinoceros and a penguin and its underlying message about self-sacrifice as reasons for bringing it to Japanese audiences (the two reports render the executive's name in different orders, reflecting Japanese versus Western naming conventions).
Geek Pictures also picked up Japanese rights to Dora, the third feature directed by July Jung, which debuted in the Directors' Fortnight strand at Cannes earlier this year and has since been invited into the Gala Presentation section at Busan. Finecut additionally placed the film with a Taiwanese distributor. One report adds that the film pairs a Korean actress in the lead role with a well-known Japanese performer whose credits include an Oscar-winning monster feature and a Palme d'Or-winning drama, and notes that the director has now had three consecutive films selected at Cannes, a first for a Korean woman filmmaker.
Coverage diverges most notably over Hong Sangsoo's Nowhere to Lay My Eyes, the director's 35th feature, which won three prizes in the main competition at Locarno this year, including the award for best direction. One outlet reports that Finecut has sold the film into numerous territories, including North America, Britain, Spain, China, Austria and Taiwan, and describes its plot concerning a woman reuniting briefly with her mother's new family after a decade apart; the other source omits this title entirely, concentrating its account solely on the two Japanese deals. The more detailed report also mentions further titles Finecut intends to promote during Toronto, including an animated feature based on a widely viewed webtoon and a Japanese horror-thriller marking another filmmaker's feature debut, ahead of its premiere at Sitges — details largely absent from the shorter account, which focuses narrowly on the Japan-related transactions signalled in its headline.
Where outlets differ
From the full account, which is AI-written from the sources:
Source 2 (Deadline) frames the story narrowly around the two Japan sales (Long Long Night and Dora) and omits Nowhere to Lay My Eyes entirely, whereas Source 1 (Variety) treats it as one of three headline festival titles and gives it the most detailed treatment, including its full list of territorial buyers and plot summary.
Only Source 1 notes July Jung's distinction as the first Korean female director with three consecutive Cannes selections, and only it names the lead actresses (Kim Doyeon and Ando Sakura) and Ando's prior credits.
Only Source 1 covers the additional Toronto slate items — Guardians of the Video Game and Wash Away — including background on the webtoon's viewership and director Takuya Miyahara's short film history; Source 2 mentions these titles only briefly by name.
The Geek Pictures CEO's name appears in different orders between the two reports (Kosano Tamotsu vs Tamotsu Kosano), likely reflecting differing conventions for rendering Japanese names.
Explained simply
Finecut is a South Korean sales agency that represents films at international markets, brokering distribution deals for titles on behalf of directors and producers. This particular story concerns two films from its current slate that are being sold into Japan: "Long Long Night", a debut animated feature by Youm Kyu Bock based on a popular novel, and "Dora", a drama by established director July Jung that has already screened at the Cannes festival.
Festival appearances matter in the film industry because a strong reception at a major event, such as Cannes or Toronto, builds a title's reputation and makes it more attractive to distributors in other countries, who then pay to release it in their own cinemas. Busan (in South Korea) and Sitges (in Spain) are further festivals where these films are due to be shown, adding to their profile. Geek Pictures, the Japanese company acquiring the two films, is one such distributor buying the rights to bring them to Japanese audiences.
The wider context is the autumn festival calendar, when many new films are unveiled and sales agents like Finecut use the buzz generated to close distribution agreements around the world, which is standard practice for how independent and international cinema reaches audiences beyond its country of origin.