Two Korean dramas with very different routes to international attention have secured fresh distribution deals. Journey There, starring Justin H. Min, has been picked up across several Asian territories, Israel and airline distribution, while Hong Sangsoo’s Locarno prizewinner Nowhere To Lay My Eyes has added buyers in Europe, Japan and Argentina.
The announcements, made by Korean sales company Finecut, bring the films to new markets but do not include release dates. For viewers, the contrast is part of the appeal: Journey There introduces a familiar face from global television to a Korean feature, while Nowhere To Lay My Eyes carries the attention of a major international festival into further distribution.
A Korean feature with a familiar face
Journey There has been acquired for distribution in Japan by KDDI Corporation, Mongolia by Izagur Media, Taiwan by Andrews Film and Israel by Lev Cinema. Kairos Distribution has also acquired airline rights. Those are distinct kinds of reach: the territory deals place the film with local distributors, while the airline agreement opens a separate route to audiences in transit.
Directed by Kim Jin-yu, the drama centres on a middle-aged woman who begins preparing for a journey after her husband’s death. In her new apartment, she finds herself forming unexpected connections. Veteran actress Kim Hye-ok stars, with Min—known for Beef, The Umbrella Academy and Kogonada’s After Yang—making his first appearance in a Korean production.
That combination gives the film an unusual audience bridge: Min brings recognition from English-language television and film, while the story is rooted in a quieter, everyday upheaval. His presence is a casting milestone for this production, not evidence that the film is built around his previous roles. Journey There is Kim Jin-yu’s second feature, following the 2018 family drama Bori, and received its world premiere at Busan. It opened in South Korea on October 28, two days before this announcement.
Locarno recognition meets a wider market
Nowhere To Lay My Eyes has been sold to Carlotta Films in France, Mimosa Films in Japan, The Stone and the Plot in Portugal, and Kligger in Argentina. These deals add to previously announced acquisitions covering North America, the UK, Spain, China, Austria and Taiwan. The film premiered in competition at Locarno, where Hong won the award for best direction, Kim Minhee received best performance, and the Ecumenical Jury gave the film its prize.
Its premise is intimate rather than sprawling: a woman visits her mother with her brother after a decade apart, and the siblings spend two days with their mother’s new family. The setup makes the film’s central tension legible across borders—what it means to return to a family whose shape has changed—without requiring familiarity with Korean culture or Hong’s body of work. It is the director’s 35th feature and is produced by Jeonwonsa Film Co.
What the dealmaking signals—and what it doesn’t
Viewed together, the sales show two different strengths that can travel internationally: a cast connection that may draw viewers in, and festival recognition that gives an art-house title a clear point of distinction. Neither guarantees a particular theatrical or streaming launch in each territory; those details have not been announced. But securing distributors is a meaningful step between a festival screening and the possibility of audiences encountering the films locally.
Finecut is also taking other titles to the American Film Market in November, including the animated feature Long Long Night, July Jung’s Dora and the fantasy romance Wi-Fi Love In The Palace. That broader slate places these two dramas within a continuing effort to connect Korean films with buyers abroad. One begins with a woman making room for a new journey; the other with siblings returning to a family they no longer quite know. Their new deals suggest that both stories may now have more places to find an audience.