Distributor, Day for Night has acquired a trio of Asian titles for U.K. and Ireland at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents and Film Market.
Day for Night is acquiring the late Pema Tseden‘s “Snow Leopard” from Rediance. Pema Tseden, the Tibetan art house film director known for “Jinpa” and “Balloon,” died at 53 earlier this year. The film explores the complicated coexistence of animals and people on the Tibetan plateau. After a snow leopard kills nine rams owned by a herder, a bitter conflict ensues between the herder who wants to kill the snow leopard and the father who wants to release it.
“Snow Leopard” world premiered at Venice and subsequently played Toronto and will next be at Tokyo.
“Next Sohee” by Korean filmmaker July Jung (“A Girl at My Door”), which premiered at Cannes’ Critics Week in 2022 and played at Busan and London, has been acquired by Day for Night from Finecut. In the thriller, Sohee, a high school student on a work placement at a call centre, is subjected to a gruelling experience, and descends into a downward psychological spiral leading to a police investigation.
“Remembering Every Night” by Japanese filmmaker Kiyohara Yui (“Our Night”) premiered at Berlin earlier this year and is currently playing at Busan. Day for Night acquired the film from Parallax Films. Set in Tama New Town on the outskirts of Tokyo, the film follows three women of different ages whose lives converge and intersect, who are ultimately each navigating their own concerns, anxieties and feelings of isolation – a woman in her 30s who takes utility meter readings for a living, an older woman struggling in her search for a new job and a young university student grieving the loss of a childhood friend.
Day for Night has helped introduce U.K. audiences to the work of acclaimed filmmakers including Pema Tseden, Dominga Sotomayor (“Too Late to Die Young,”“Mar,”“Thursday Till Sunday”), Chaitanya Tamhane (“Court”) and Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit (“Mary is Happy, Mary is Happy,” “36,” “Die Tomorrow”).
Sonali Joshi, Day for Night co-director, told PvNew, “These three distinctive films from East Asia continue our commitment to bringing underrepresented stories to wide and diverse audiences. We’re particularly eager to be working with ‘Snow Leopard,’ another exquisite film from the late Pema Tseden. Along with many other cinephiles, we miss him dearly, and hope that with this film we can continue to give recognition to this rare talent.”
