Cannes Winner ‘Burning’ Bought by Well Go for October Release (EXCLUSIVE)

By Dave McNary

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Well Go USA has acquired all North American rights to Lee Chang-dong’s Korean drama “Burning,” which won the Fipresci Prize last month at the Cannes Film Festival.

will release “” to theaters across the nation beginning Oct. 26 in New York City, with expansion to follow throughout November. Based on a story by Haruki Murakami, “Burning” centers on an alienated young man, played by Ah-in Yoo as a frustrated introvert whose already difficult life is complicated by the appearance of two people into his orbit: a spirited young woman (Jong-seo Jun) who offers romantic possibility, and a wealthy young man (Steven Yeun of “The Walking Dead”) she returns from a trip with.

Art director Shin Jeom-hui won the Vulcan Award of the Technical Artist at Cannes, an independent prize given to the best technical artist in filming, editing, art, and sound.

Peter Debruge of Variety called the film “beguiling” in his review and said, “The degree to which ‘Burning’  succeeds will depend largely on one’s capacity to identify with the unspoken but strongly conveyed sense of jealousy and frustration its lower-class protagonist feels, coupled with a need to impose some sense of order on events beyond our control.

“’Burning’ is exactly the kind of film we’re always looking out for — it is auteur filmmaking at its finest,” said Dylan Marchetti of Well Go. “Well Go has a rich history of bringing the best films from Asia to North American audiences, and like we did with ‘The Assassin,’ ‘The Wailing,’ and so many more, we can’t wait to help get diverse audiences into a dark room to take this powerful journey together.”

“Burning” is written by Oh Jung-mi and Chang-dong. The film was produced by Chang-dong and Lee Joon-dong. The deal was negotiated by Doris Pfardrescher for Well Go USA and Youngjoo Suh for Finecut Co LTD on behalf of the filmmakers.