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‘Gill’ Expands Into Key European and Asian Markets
Korean fantasy animated feature “Gill” (Korean title: Agami) has signed new sales deals across major markets in Europe and Asia. Barunson E&A, which handled international sales, closed deals with Wild Bunch Germany for German-speaking Europe, KDDI for Japan, Deep Ent for the CIS region, Filmbridge for Mongolia, and Cola Films for Taiwan. Airline screening rights were secured by Kairos Distribution.
The deals mark a rare case of a single Korean animated film entering Europe, East Asia, the CIS and Mongolia at once. International interest built up through film festival screenings has translated into actual sales, widening the distribution base through which the film can reach audiences across multiple regions.
In Korea, the film is set to open in theaters on September 9, 2026. Actors Jung Hae-in, Kang Ha-neul and Lee Chung-ah lent their voices for a new Korean dub created for the local release. With the international sales news and the domestic release preparations landing around the same time, “Gill” is pursuing global expansion and a refreshed local rollout in parallel.
Jung Hae-in, Kang Ha-neul and Lee Chung-ah Join the Redub
Jung Hae-in, Kang Ha-neul and Lee Chung-ah gave the film’s key characters new voices as part of the redub prepared ahead of the Korean release. The involvement of three actors best known for live-action film and television work is central to reintroducing a film that had until now been known mainly through festival circles to a mainstream domestic audience.
In animation, voice work carries much of the weight of conveying a character’s emotions, relationships and the mood of a scene. That is especially true for a fantasy story that blends the real and the imagined, where voice acting helps audiences accept an unfamiliar world and its characters. The redub can be understood as a way of refreshing how the Korean theatrical release communicates its story and characters, while the underlying narrative and animation remain unchanged.
Star casting alone cannot guarantee a film’s success. Still, the actors’ recognition may help introduce the film to a wider audience beyond readers of the original novel or existing animation fans. The simultaneous attention to the international sales news and the redub announcement reflects an effort to secure both artistic credibility and mainstream accessibility at the same time.
Turning Gu Byeong-mo’s 2011 Novel Into a Feature Fantasy Film
“Gill” is based on the novel of the same title published by author Gu Byeong-mo in 2011. Bringing a literary work to feature animation meant reconstructing the novel’s story and mood through moving images and voice performance. Because the film has a literary source, how the world imagined by readers meets the animation’s visual interpretation is one of the key points of interest around the Korean release.
The film was directed by An Jae-huun, who received a special jury prize at the 2020 Annecy International Animation Film Festival. That a director who had already earned recognition on the international festival circuit adapted a Korean novel into a new fantasy feature is an important piece of context for understanding how “Gill” came to be made.
Combining literature and animation is not simply a matter of repeating the source material. Scenes and emotions expressed in prose have to be translated again into color, movement and voice. The film’s overseas sales mark a starting point for seeing how Gu Byeong-mo’s original story and An Jae-huun’s animated interpretation resonate with audiences across languages and regions.
From an Annecy Competition Slot to International Sales
“Gill” was invited to the competition section of the 2024 Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Its Annecy premiere introduced the film to international animation audiences and industry figures, and that exposure has now led to sales deals across several regions in Europe and Asia. The core of this announcement is that the festival invitation did not stop at a screening opportunity but translated into concrete international sales results.
What remains to be seen is how the film reaches audiences in each of these markets, and how the September 9 Korean release is received. What is clear for now is that a Korean fantasy animated feature invited to a major festival’s competition section has secured sales deals across multiple regions, while in Korea it is entering a new theatrical release backed by a redub featuring Jung Hae-in, Kang Ha-neul and Lee Chung-ah.
Source: Screen Daily, August 18, 2026.
