Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the North American rights and other territories to “All The People I’ll Never Be,” a film from writer and director Davy Chou that is playing in the Un Certain Regard section on Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival.
SPC is also planning on re-titling the movie in English as “Return to Seoul,” which is the translation of its actual title in French. In addition to North America, the distributor also acquired rights to the film in Latin America, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.
“All The People I’ll Never Be” is the story of a 25-year-old woman who, on an impulse, returns to South Korea, where she was born before being adopted and raised in France, for the first time. The headstrong young woman starts looking for her biological parents in a country she knows so little about, taking her life in new and unexpected directions.
The film stars Park Ji-Min, Oh Kwang-Rok, Guka Han, Kim Sun-Young, Yoann Zimmer, and Louis-Do De Lencquesaing.
“All The People I’ll Never Be” was produced by Charlotte Vincent under her Aurora Films banner and Katia Khazak. It was co-produced by Hanneke Van Der Tas, Cassandre Warnauts, and Jean-Yves Roubin, and associate produced by Ha Min-Ho and Chou.
“I’m tremendously excited to work together with Sony Pictures Classics,” Chou said in a statement. “They are home to so many great films. I’m looking forward to sharing ‘Return to Seoul’ with their audiences worldwide.”
“’Return to Seoul’ speaks to the younger audience returning to theaters as well as the classical specialized film audience. A great story of a woman in search of her past. It is satisfying and promises success on all levels. ‘Return to Seoul’ instantly elevates Davy Chou to the highest level of filmmakers working today,” added Sony Pictures Classics.
“Davy Chou has made a very moving film that takes you to unexpected places with an incredible central performance from Park Ji-Min as the formidable yet vulnerable Freddie, and we are thrilled to be working with him and partnering again with Sony Pictures Classics on its international release,” MK2 Films added.
Last year, Sony Pictures Classics acquired “Compartment No. 6” out of the festival. And this year’s Cannes has already seen a modest amount of activity for the completed films, including Neon acquiring Hirokazu Kore-eda’s film “Broker” and Mubi acquiring Park Chan-wook’s “Decision to Leave.”
The deal was negotiated between Sony Pictures Classics and MK2 Films.