Korean sales company Finecut has announced that Kim Ki-duk’s Pieta has sold to Good Films for Italy ahead of its premiere in the Venice film festival’s competition.
Pieta is the story of a cruel and solitary loan shark who encounters a mysterious woman claiming to be his mother. He finds himself becoming attached to her only to realise her extreme yet sad motive.
“This story of Pieta impressed me so much the first time I saw it, I immediately wanted to see it again and to go back and watch most his other works,” said Good Films founder Luigi Musini.
“Kim Ki-duk is definitely one of the few directors I admire for both his talent and his subject matter, which is always so profound and challenging. He is really not afraid to tell his opinions,” he said.
Good Films is planning to release the film on 37 prints on Sept 14 in cities including Rome, Milan, Florence and Naples.
“Having represented over 10 films by Kim Ki-duk throughout the years, I’ve witnessed the advent of distributors loyal to the auteur’s works. Pieta has a compelling story and subject that integrates his early works with the later ones,” said Finecut head Youngjoo Suh.
Kim’s fourth film to compete for Venice’s Golden Lion, Pieta will also screen in Toronto’s Masters section and Sitges’ competition. Kim most recently won Cannes’ Un Certain Regard prize with his documentary Arirang. His 3-Iron and Samaritan Girl also won awards at Venice and Berlin.
Local distributor Next Entertainment World (N.E.W.) will release Pieta on 200 screens in Korea on Sept 6. N.E.W. last year distributed Poongsan, which was produced by Kim and directed by his protégé Juhn Jaihong.
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