Major Korean investor and distributor Showbox Mediaplex has signed with hit director Lee Jun-ik to back and distribute his upcoming Nimeun Mon Gotsae (original title), a $7.5m film set during the Vietnam War.

In the film, a woman joins a troupe of entertainers sent to build soldiers' morale in Vietnam so she can find her husband who has gone missing in the war. The film takes its title from a popular love song which translates literally as 'My Beloved Is In A Faraway Place.'

Lee previously broke box office records with historical drama King And The Clown, which was Korea 's submission to the Academy Awards foreign-language film category. He followed that up last year with the smaller tearjerker Radio Star, which picked up multiple awards locally. His first film was the comic historical hit Once Upon A Time In A Battlefield.

Co-produced by Tiger Pictures and Achim Pictures, Nimeun Mon Gotsae is to start shooting in October for six months, with three months' location in Thailand for scenes set in 1960s Vietnam. The film is set for release in summer 2008.

Last month, Mediaplex sold off its lucrative Megabox multiplex chain (with a two-year contract to manage and operate it) to a foreign-led consortium, prompting rumors that the Orion-backed company was readying to pull out of the local film business altogether.

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