Cannes Competition Title Was Also a Box Office Hit – 2.3 Million in Korea
New York, NY (July 20, 2010) – IFC Films, the leading American distributor of independent and foreign films, announced today that the company has acquired North American rights to Im Sang-soo’s erotic thriller THE HOUSEMAID, which made its world premiere in Competition at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. IFC plans to screen the film at key Fall film festivals and then release the film early next year.
THE HOUSEMAID is a sumptuous and erotic thriller set within the household of a beautiful and extremely wealthy family. When they hire a comely young maid to work with an older housekeeper, she is specifically assigned to cater to the spoiled and vastly pregnant wife, who will soon give birth to twins, and her agreeable young daughter. However, it’s not long before she attracts the attention of her husband and soon finds herself pregnant. It’s only when the family’s social order is disturbed that all hell breaks loose. The film is a remake of Kim Ki-young’s 1960 classic of the same name which was recently restored by Martin Scorsese.
President of IFC Entertainment Jonathan Sehring said: "THE HOUSEMAID is one of the most sheerly entertaining and sexy thrillers we have seen in years. It establishes Im Sang-soo as a major filmmaker and reconfirms that some of the best filmmaking anywhere in the world is happening in South Korea. We couldn’t be happier that Mirovision entrusted this film to us and think it’s the perfect fit for all of our platforms."
"We’re extremely happy to find IFC as the North American home for our film," said Jason Chae, producer of THE HOUSEMAID and President of Mirovision. "We’ve always been impressed by IFC’s passion for Korean landmark films and this is an honorable deal. I already have a lot of confidence in IFC’s blueprint for US distribution. I believe THE HOUSEMAID can turn a new page for how a Korean movie can be received by a wider audience in the North American market."
The deal for THE HOUSEMAID was negotiated by Arianna Bocco, Senior Vice President, Acquisitions & Productions, and Jeff Deutchman, Manager of Acquisitions & Productions, for IFC Films and with Jason Chae, President & Producer of Mirovision, and Erica Nam, Vice President of the International Division at Mirovision, on behalf of the filmmakers.
About the Filmmaker
After graduating from Yonsei University with a major in history, IM Sang-soo went on to study at the Korean Academy of Film Arts. Beginning his career in film under the directing team for The General’s Son, IM went on to make his breakthrough debut film, Girls’ Night Out, and gain widespread attention from both critics and audiences. With his next film, Tears, a film about wayward teenagers, he struck a chord in the heart of Korean society. He further gained recognition with A Good Laywer’s Wife, which equally proved a stir across the Korean film world. Introducing him to audiences further afield, he was invited to the Panorama section at the Berlin Film Festival with Tears, and A Good Lawyer’s Wife competed for best picture at the Venice Film Festival, drawing attention and plaudits to his sharp outlook and unique directing style. In 2004, he returned with a unique analysis of modern Korean history in The President’s Last Bang with which he was invited to Cannes in the following year, reinforcing his international reputation. In 2007, after filming The Old Garden, IM went to France and had been drawing up his next film when he agreed to take on the challenge of remaking THE HOUSEMAID. Based in IM’s unique approach to challenging mainstream social values, IM’s THE HOUSEMAID, now set in contemporary Korean upper-class society, is bound to provoke and question its audience.
About IFC Entertainment
A leader in the independent film industry, IFC Entertainment consists of multiple brands that are devoted to bringing the best of specialty films to the largest possible audience: IFC Films, IFC Midnight, IFC Productions, and the IFC Center. IFC Films is a leading distributor of independent film. Its unique day and date distribution model, ’IFC In Theaters,’ makes independent films available to a national audience by releasing them simultaneously in theaters as well as on cable’s On Demand platform and through Pay-Per-View, reaching 50 million homes. IFC Midnight, launched in 2010, offers the very best in international genre cinema, including horror, sci-fi, thrillers, erotic arthouse, action and more. IFC Center is a five screen, state-of-the-art cinema with luxurious seating and HD digital and 35mm projection that shows art-house films in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village. IFC Entertainment’s companies are subsidiaries of Rainbow Media Holdings LLC.
About Mirovision, INC.
Mirovison, established by Jason CHAE, was the first international sales & distribution outfit for Korean films across the world. While Mirovision built a unique distribution brand with the successful domestic release of foreign movies, Mirospace, art house cinema, was also launching the up-market and playing a major part in changing the perception of art house cinema in Korea. Since 2002, Mirovision has been become a champion of new forms of international co-production and ambitiously took on its first English Features ’Sam’s Lake’. Since 2005, Mirovision has been gearing up Korean production more actively. The Housemaid is another major leap forward. Mirovision steps forward to become the leading global film company broadening its goals as a multimedia group through the development of innovative business strategies.