[News] Showbox sells Busan opening film Always to Japan.

[News] Showbox sells Busan opening film Always to Japan.
Cr. - www.koreanfilm.or.kr

Major Korean distributor Showbox/Mediaplex has sold Song Il-gon's melodrama Always, the 16th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) opening film, to Japan's Pony Canyon.

The film tells the fatal story of a former boxer and a blind girl who fall in love. It stars heartthrob So Ji-sub, who has built a fan-base in Asia after the hit TV series "I Am Sorry, I Love You" and Jang Hoon's debut feature "Rough Cut". Opposite him stars Han Hyo-joo who swept up drama awards last year for her performance in the TV series Dong-Yi.

The film is the sixth and most recent feature from director Song Il-gon, who made his feature debut with Flower Island, a film which premiered in the Venice film festival and won the New Currents prize at Busan ten years ago.

Always is scheduled to be released on Oct. 20 in Korea.

At BIFF, Showbox is also screening Korean War drama The Front Line, which has been selected as the South Korean submission to the upcoming Academy Awards' Best Foreign Language Film Category nominations.

Showbox's new slate for Busan's Asian Film Market includes courtroom thriller "The Client" starring Ha Jeong-woo ("The Yellow Sea"), which just broke 1.5 million admissions within ten days of release; tear-jerking horse racing drama Champ starring Cha Tae-hyeon ("Hello Ghost"), and "Mr. Idol", a film about K-pop stars and the music industry, starring popular entertainers such as Jay Park.

Showbox has recently added to its international sales slate another So Ji-sub action film "A Company Man" and "Nameless Gangster" (working title) which is directed by Yoon Jong-bin ("Beastie Boys"), starring Choi Min-sik ("I Saw the Devil") and Ha Jung-woo.