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Est N8, the international sales, production, and finance company, has acquired “Family Secrets,” a Korean family drama directed by Lee Sang-hoon (“Windmill”), at Hong Kong FilMart.

The film tells the story of an average Korean family whose members begin leading secret lives unknown to each other. The eldest daughter Mina, for instance, skips her piano lessons to take self-defense classes. The narrative reveals these new pursuits are connected to promises made to their deceased family member Seung-hyun, who perished in the tragic Sewol ferry incident.

“Family Secrets” takes a distinctive approach to the Sewol Ferry disaster, focusing on hope rather than sorrow. “The Sewol ferry victims’ families try not to talk about the Sewol ferry disaster, but rather to talk about the good and happy stories,” director Lee Sang-hoon said. “Since they know how much pain they each are feeling, they comfort and encourage each other with hopeful communication during...

It all begins with a scam phone call in upcoming Thai horror movie Death Dial, with Deadline reporting that Night Edge Pictures is bringing the project to the European Film Market.

Sanya Kunakorn (How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies) and Penpak Sirikul (Home for Rent) will star in Death Dial, and you can check out a first look image above.

Deadline details, “Inspired by true stories of devious call center gangs mercilessly victimizing people all over the region, Death Dial tells the story of Chaba (played by Sirikul), an elderly woman with a gift of mediumship as she avenges her brother and niece’s get after being victimized by a call center gang.

“A simple scam phone call turns into a bloody supernatural vengeance story as she tracks down the ring that runs the scam ring in the city.”

Napas Taleangcapun is on board to direct Death Dial, expected...

Thai production outfit Night Edge Pictures has locked in its lead cast for the upcoming horror-thriller “Delivery Man,” with Bhumibhat Thavornsiri, Plearnpichaya Komalarajun, and Ananda Everingham joining the project, it was unveiled during Berlin’s European Film Market (EFM).

The deal was orchestrated by U.S.-Thai film global sales, production, and finance company Est N8’s team of Tenten Wei, Sophie Shi, and Cathy Ni, adding to their growing slate of Asian content which includes MD Pictures’ “Sorop,” December’s box office leader “Hutang Nyawa,” and the Fantasia best director award-winning Korean action film “Mash Ville.”

“Delivery Man,” which blends Korean cinema’s suspenseful pacing with Thailand’s signature storytelling approach, delves into the dark underbelly of stalker culture. The project comes from the directing duo Ornusa Donsawai and Pun Homchuen, who co-wrote the script with Kongkiat Komesiri.

Thavornsiri (known as Aim) takes the lead as Guy, a socially...

Exclusive: Bangkok-based horror studio and distribution company Night Edge Pictures will be making its European Film Market (EFM) debut with horror film Death Dial, alongside a slate of other horror and thriller films.

Night Edge Pictures has unveiled additional cast for Death Dial, with Sanya Kunakorn set to join the project.

Top Thai actress Penpak Sirikul is already attached to Death Dial. Sirikul featured in Home For Rent as well as Start Up, Thailand’s adaptation of the popular Korean drama of the same name.

Death Dial is currently in pre-production and scheduled for release in early-2026.

Additionally, Night Edge Pictures will bring Death Dial to overseas distributors at the American Film Market later this year, after introducing the title at the same event last year.

Inspired by true stories of devious call center gangs mercilessly victimizing people all over the region,...

Global sales, production, and finance company Est N8 has acquired “Hutang Nyawa,” an Indonesian horror film due to release Dec. 12. The acquisition was made during the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival (Jaff).

Directed by Billy Christian, a filmmaker with over a decade of horror films under his belt, “Hutang Nyawa” tells the story of Erwina, the youngest member of a family who is sent to work in an old factory. She soon discovers she has been offered as a sacrifice to settle her family’s dark debt to the devil. Christian’s recent project “Motel Melati’ competed at the Sitges Film Festival.

The film stars Taskya Namya, known for Netflix’s action film “The Shadow Strays” and the horror film “Suzzana,” alongside Rachel Vennya, a social media influencer making her acting debut in this genre. It is produced by Visinema Pictures, the studio behind hits like “Filosofi Kopi” and “Keluarga Cemara.

Thailand’s horror studio Night Edge Pictures lands at AFM with a slate of horror and thriller titles set for 2025.

Warun Siriprachai’s debut feature How To Run Away From Your Million-Baht Debt is based on a short-video phenomenon on social media. It focuses on a man who defends his innocence when he becomes the key suspect after his wife and child are murdered in their apartment. It is produced by Panida Ngamsompong (RedLife).

There’s Something Wrong With The TV is a horror sci-fi about two teenagers who attempt to release a group of children trapped inside an antique TV set.

Recent Asian feature films including Makbul Mubarak’s “Autobiography,” Lan Pham Ngoc’s “Cu Li Never Cries,” Nelson Yeo’s “Dreaming & Dying,” Jeremias Nyangoen’s “The Women of Rote Island” and Lyda Leak’s “The Night Curse of Reatrei” adorn the non-competitive lineup of the 2024 edition of the Blue Chair film festival in Luang Prabang, Laos.

Previously known as the Luang Prabang Film Festival, the festival counts 24 features and 40 shorts in its 2024 festival. It will run Dec. 5-9 in the Unesco World Heritage town.

The event also boasts the world premiere of Feisal Azizuddin’s “Angkat” (Malaysia) — a project developed in part at the Luang Prabang Talent Lab in 2019 — and the Lao premiere of Joshua Trigg’s “Satu – Year of the Rabbit” (Laos).

“With five nights and four full days of programming, the festival is returning to “something like its program scale before the pandemic,” said Sean Chadwell, Blue Chair’s executive director.

Riding high on the box office success of How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, Thai production house Gdh 559 has unveiled details of five upcoming features as part of 10-strong film slate.

Billkin Putthipong Assaratanakul, the breakout star of box office phenomenon How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, will head the cast of comedy Project Red alongside Pp Krit Amnuaydechkorn. It reunites the two actors for the first time since hit Bl (boys’ love) TV series I Told Sunset About You and sequel I Promised You The Moon.

Both stars are also partnering with Gdh through their respective...

Los Angeles- and Bangkok-based film sales joint venture Est N8 is expanding into theatrical distribution in parts of Southeast Asia.

As a first step, it will release the Michael Mann-directed “Ferrari” in Thailand on Thursday and in Myanmar on June 21. The film, which premiered in Venice in September last year, was released in other territories between December and February.

Est N8 was formed Est Studios and N8. Est Studios was launched in 2022 by Jaeson Ma and Eric Tu. It represents Asian content across multiple genres and seeks an annual slate of 15 projects that it can finance, produce and represent. Thailand-based, N8 was founded by Kris Eiamsakulrat and Rachel Wu. Last year N8 formed a partnership with leading Thai studio GDH559, to co-produce a slate of Thai thriller and horror films aimed at the global audience.

The joint venture company says that it will distribute at least one big-budget title per month in Southeast Asia,...

US sales agent WME Independent has picked up international sales to upcoming Thai family drama How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies from Bad Genius producer Gdh 559.

It marks the first collaboration between the two firms and is also the first time major Thai studio Gdh 559 has not handled international sales on one of its own titles.

WME Independent will represent the film internationally, excluding Thailand, which will be handled by Gdh, and will introduce the title to buyers in Berlin during the EFM next week.

The Thai-language feature centres on a young man who quits his job to look after his dying grandmother.

Fast-rising Taichi Kimura’s feature explores grief.

Est N8 has acquired worldwide sales rights to Japanese thriller Afterglows and will continue autumn festival and market talks with buyers at Tokyo International Film Festival (October 23-November 1) and American Film Market (October 31-November 5).

Fast-rising Taichi Kimura’s explores grief and takes place in Tokyo as a taxi driver is haunted by hallucinations after the suicide of his wife, a famous singer.

The film stars Kentez Asaka, Megumi, Akira Koieyama and Keiko Takeshita (The Boy And The Heron) and was produced byTakuma Hiramatsu and Yutaro Tagawa.

Afterglows opened released in Japan earlier...

Exclusive: Roadside Attractions has acquired U.S. rights to Bhutan’s official selection for Best International Feature at the 96th Academy Awards, The Monk and the Gun, a spiritual fable written, directed, and co-produced by the Oscar-nominated director of 2019’s Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, Pawo Choyning Dorj. Contending for Best International Film, Lunana became the first Bhutanese film ever nominated for an Oscar. The Monk and the Gun premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and later the Toronto International Film Festival where it won critical and audience acclaim, currently holding a 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

In my Deadline review of the film after its Telluride premiere I said, “If I were a betting man — which I am — I would venture to say that with his second film The Monk and the Gun, which just had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival this weekend and goes on to Toronto next week,...

Est N8, a recently-established finance, production and rights sales company, has added a Hong Kong remake of classic film “Tape” and the LGBT comedy-drama “Asog” to its bulging sales slate at the Afcm market that accompanies the Busan Intenational Film Festival.

“Tape” tells the story of three best friends who, following an event at a graduation party that transforms their lives, reunite 15 years later where a case of blackmail forces them to confront a terrible secret from their past.

The original film starred Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Robert Sean Leonard and played at the Sundance, Toronto and Rotterdam festivals.

In the Cantonese-language remake directed by Bizhan Tong, Selena Lee, Kenny Kwan, and Adam Pak play the contemporary characters while Mason Fung, Summer Chan, and Angus Yeung portray the characters’ younger versions.

The script is written by Stephen Belber, Tong, Lee and Bonnie Lo, and is an adaptation of Belber...

Est N8, a recently-established finance, production and film sales company, has appointed Chen ‘Tata’ Xinrui as its sales and distribution manager. Chen will serve under Tenten Wei, head of studios for Est N8 and will be based in Los Angeles.

Est N8 is a partnership between Est Studios and Bangkok-based N8 Studios that was officially launched at Cannes this year and operates under the combined moniker. The two parent companies still operate as separate entities.

Est Studios was founded in 2022 by Jaeson Ma and Eric Tu, and represents all genres of Asian content in the international marketplace. It is looking at an annual slate of 15 projects that it will be financing, producing, and representing for sales.

N8 was founded by Kris Eiamsakulrat and Rachel Wu with a focus on the untold stories of 4.5 billion Asian voices around the world. N8 formed a partnership with leading Thai studio GDH559, to co-produce...

Sophon Sakdaphisit has really outdone himself with his new directorial venture Home For Rent. If there is a name that guarantees a proper ‘horror’ experience in today’s films, it is Sophon. As the writer of such films as “Shutter” and “Coming Soon”, his new film Home For Rent is a testament to his ability to create a terrifying world where anything can happen to your loved ones. He doesn’t give scientific explanations in his films to dilute the experience; he just deep dives into the purely supernatural element.

It’s nice to have a director who unabashedly jumps into what could be called old-school horror, and because Sophon has the conviction to pull it off, Home For Rent works really well. The film features some very strong performances by the actors, but it is the casting that has to be credited because it is spot on. The story revolves around Ning,...

Renowned Thai horror director Sophon Sakdaphisit is back with another big-budget horror movie, titled Home For Rent, and it stars some big names in Thai cinema. Starring Nittha Jirayungyurn, Penpak Sirikul, and Sukollawat Kanarot, among others, the movie is about a woman named Ning, whose life changes after two women move into her house as tenants. When Ning’s neighbor begins to suspect that the new tenants might practice black magic and weird things start happening at her own home, Ning is compelled to get to the bottom of whatever horror has come into her life. Here’s what happens in the 2023 Thai horror film Home For Rent.

Spoilers Ahead

Why Do The Tenants Arrive At Ning’s House?

A young woman named Ning walks into her house to find it trashed and vandalized. She’s been advised by her real estate agent, Tom, to rent out the home, and that way,...

Exclusive: Est Studios has entered into a partnership with New York and Bangkok-based N8 Studios to represent a slate of Asian films at global markets including the Marche du Film at Cannes.

The two companies will focus on international sales of Thai, Korean, Chinese and Indonesian titles. “The goal is to bring Asia to the World, forge new partnerships with filmmakers from the East and introduce new premium Asian film and television IP to global audiences,” the partners said in a statement.

The first title in the partnership is Thai hit thriller horror Home For Rent, co-produced by N8 Studios and Thailand’s Gdh. The film has been widely released theatrically in Asia by Gdh and will soon be rolled out across Latin America. Est N8 will represent the film in North America.

The partnership was negotiated by Tenten Wei for Est Studios and N8 Studios’ co-founder Kris Eiamsakulrat

“We...

The horror thriller has topped the Thai box office for three weeks.

Sophon Sakdaphisit’s horror thriller Home For Rent, which has topped the box office in Thailand for the past three weeks, has landed sales in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The film has been sold by leading Thai firm Gdh 559 to Vietnam (Cj Hk Entertainment), Hong Kong and Macau (mm2 Studios), and all Latin America and Caribbean territories (Impacto Cine).

It follows a bumper run at the box office for the feature, which opened in Thailand on April 6 to coincide with the Chakri Memorial holiday prior...