Chinese film sales company Parallax Films has notched a pair of early sales deals for Taiwanese indie drama Love is a Gun at the upcoming TIFFCOM content market in Tokyo.
As the Tokyo International Film Festival was getting underway Monday, Parallax reached agreements with Japanese distributor ReallyLikeFilms and Italian distributor Minerva Pictures. ReallyLikeFilms has taken all Japan rights to the title, while Minera picked up rights for Italy, Capo d ‘Istria, San Marino, Vatican City, and Italian-speaking Malta, Monaco and Switzerland (for Free TV and Pay TV).
Love Is a Gun is the directorial debut of 33-year-old Taiwanese actor Lee Hong-Chi, best known for his starring role in Thanatos, Drunk, which won him the best new performer prize at the 52nd Golden Horse Awards in 2015. Lee co-wrote and also stars in Love Is a Gun, an existential noir that tells the story of a young man desperately trying to move on from a life of crime. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in the Critics Week section, winning the event’s Lion of the Future award, which goes to promising first-time directors. The film is getting its Asian premiere in the Tokyo International Film Festival’s World Focus section later this week.
At TIFFCOM, Parallax is also selling A Long Shot, a crime drama by first-time director Gao Peng, which is showing in the Tokyo festival’s main competition. Parallax is also repping Carefree Days, a Chinese romantic drama from Liang Ming, that premiered at San Sebastián festival; and Hong Kong/Chinese film Borrowed Time, which showed in Busan.
The TIFFCOM market, celebrating its 20th anniversary, runs Oct. 25-27. Taking place in person for the first time since the pandemic, the event has moved to a new location at the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center and is expecting bumper attendance this year.
