South Korea’s Finecut has sold upcoming comedy-drama Victory to a raft of territories including North America ahead of its local release on Wednesday (August 14).
The film, centred on a Korean cheerleading squad, has been acquired by 815 Pictures for North America and Lumix Media for Vietnam, both of which will open the feature theatrically on August 16.
It has also been picked up for Taiwan (Sky Films Entertainment), Indonesia (PT Prima Cinema Multimedia), Thailand (House of M) and Cambodia (Westec Media Limited), which are set to release the film from late August to September. Inflight rights have gone to Emphasis Video Entertainment.
Victory received its world premiere as the opening film of the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) last month, where lead actress Lee Hye-ri received the Screen International Rising Star Asia Award. Known as Hyeri from her time as a member of K-pop group Girl’s Day, the actress is known for series Reply 1988 and sports drama My Punch-Drunk Boxer.
Victory is set in 1999 on a remote Korean island and follows two high-school girls who create a cheerleading club to pursue their love for dance, but soon find themselves cheering for an underdog football team.
It marks the latest feature of director Park Beom-su, known for his 2014 debut Red Carpet and recent romantic comedy Single In Seoul. The cast also includes Park Se-wan of 2022 feature Life Is Beautiful and Lee Jung-ha of hit Disney+ action series Moving.
The feature is produced by Seoul-based Annapurna Films, headed by Lee Anna (Sunny), and presented by Mindmark, a cultural content IP company under the Shinsegae Group, known for its involvement as financier and Korean distributor of titles such as Brave Citizen, Love Reset and Honey Sweet. Upcoming Mindmark features include A Normal Family, which premiered at last year’s Toronto, and Ra Hee-chan’s Boss.
Finecut’s current slate includes Hong Sang-soo’s By The Stream, which plays in competition at Locarno before heading to Toronto, and horror-thriller Noise, which will have a market screening at Toronto before premiering at Sitges in October.
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