Locarno winner ‘Nowhere to Lay My Eyes’ signs new deals in France, Japan, Argentina and Portugal

A still from Journey There. <Finecut>

Korean sales company Finecut has closed additional international deals for Kim Jin-yu’s Journey There and Hong Sangsoo’s Nowhere to Lay My Eyes. Journey There has been acquired by distributors in Japan, Taiwan, Israel and Mongolia, and its in-flight rights have also been sold. Nowhere to Lay My Eyes has signed new deals with distributors in France, Japan, Argentina and Portugal.

Finecut announced the deals on the final day of TIFFCOM, the content market held alongside the Tokyo International Film Festival. Journey There is the first Korean production to feature actor Justin H. Min, while Nowhere to Lay My Eyes is Hong’s 35th feature.

KDDI will distribute Journey There in Japan, Andrews Film in Taiwan, Lev Cinema in Israel and Izagur Media in Mongolia. Kairos Distribution acquired the in-flight rights. The film follows Chun-hee (Kim Hye-ok), a widow preparing for a journey of her own, who forms ties with neighbors in her new apartment building, among them Min-jun (Min), a German adoptee and conductor.

Journey There is Kim Jin-yu’s second feature after Bori (2020) and was produced by his company, Pado. It opened in Korea on Oct. 28. Before its release, the film screened at the Moscow International Film Festival and the New York Asian Film Festival, and it was also invited to the Korean Film Festival in Paris and the London Korean Film Festival. Min is known for the Netflix series Beef and The Umbrella Academy and for Kogonada’s After Yang.

Nowhere to Lay My Eyes has now been picked up by Carlotta Films in France, Mimosa Films in Japan, Kligger in Argentina and The Stone and the Plot in Portugal. The new deals add to previously announced sales for North America, the U.K., Spain, China, Austria and Taiwan.

The film won the Pardo for Best Direction and the Pardo for Best Performance (Kim Min-hee) in the International Competition of the 79th Locarno Film Festival, as well as the independent Ecumenical Jury Prize. The cast includes Kim Min-hee, Kwon Hae-hyo and Choi Myung-gil, who worked with Hong for the first time on this film. It was produced by Jeonwonsa Film Co.

Finecut is now at the American Film Market (AFM), running through Nov. 15 in Los Angeles, where the company planned to hold the first buyer screening of an English-dubbed version of the animated film Long Long Night.

Sources

• The Hollywood Reporter, “Tokyo: Finecut Inks Deals for Justin H. Min’s Journey There, Hong Sangsoo’s Nowhere to Lay My Eyes,” 2026.10.29

• Star Daily News, “Justin H. Min Takes First Lead Role in a Korean Feature, Plays a Conductor in Journey There,” 2026.09.29