EXCLUSIVE: Vietnamese sales agent Skyline Media is teaming with Eastern Edge Films to release Vietnam-Korean family drama Leaving Mom across 140 locations in the US and Canada.
Released in Vietnam on August 1, the film has pulled in box office of $5.7m from nearly two million admissions, becoming the highest-grossing Vietnamese film ever released in August and the fastest to reach those earnings during the month.
North America release is scheduled for August 28 in time for the Labor Day Weekend.
Directed by Mo Hong-jin (Missing You), the film stars Tuan Tran and Hong Dao who previously appeared together in Tran Thanh’s Mai, Vietnam’s highest-grossing film of all time. Their new pairing follows a young street barber who is struggling to care for his mother with late-stage Alzheimer’s disease. In a final attempt to give her the care she deserves, he travels to South Korea hoping to leave her in the care of a half-brother he’s never met.
Korean cast includes Jung Il-woo (High Kick!) and Go Kyung-pyo (Reply 1988), with Vietnamese cast also including up-and-coming actress Juliet Bao Ngoc (Glorious Ashes) and comedian artists Quoc Khanh, Lam Vy Da, Vinh Rau and Hai Trieu.
The story has sparked intense debate on social media in Vietnam, as well as being featured on South Korean TV networks, as elderly care and the strain of balancing work and family obligations is an ongoing and urgent issue in both countries.
The film is produced by Sidus And Teu Entertainment, a company launched by Vietnamese filmmaker Phan Gia Nhat Linh (Sweet 20) and Korean Producer Yuno Choi to produce quality feature films for the Vietnam market.
Jawahar Sharma’s New Jersey-based Eastern Edge Films has licensed the North American rights to the film and is working with Skyline Media on distribution and marketing strategy. The two companies have an on-going distribution partnership that has also covered films including The Real Sister, which is the eighth highest grossing Vietnamese film of all time, and The Ancestral Home, which holds the seventh spot.