China- and Netherlands-based sales firm Fortissimo Films has picked up the international rights to new Chinese sports feature film “Wild Punch.” It will launch the film in territories outside mainland China next week at the Cannes Market.
Co-directed by well-established director Yu Lik-wai and Wang Jing (“The Best Is Yet to Come”), “Wild Punch is a sports and action drama about a top mixed martial arts athlete who has passed the peak of his career and faces competition from his young and gifted trainee. Both with something to prove, the two will have to face each other in the ring.
Yu has directed four feature films, including Cannes competition title “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and Venice title “Plastic City.” He is also well-established as a cinematographer who has worked on films including “Still Life,” “A Touch of Sin,” and “Mountains May Depart” by Jia Zhangke, Lou Ye’s “Love and Bruises” and Ann Hui’s “A Simple Life.”
“Wild Punch” is produced by Momo Pictures, the subsidiary of the NASDAQ-listed Zhiwen Group, which is best-known for its Momo instant messaging mobile application. Since 2017, Momo Pictures has produced since several films including “The Best Is Yet to Come,” which played at Venice and Toronto IFF, “A Long Shot,” which was a Tokyo festival prize-winner, and “The Boy who Counted Cars.” This is the first collaboration between Momo Pictures and Fortissimo Films.
Fortissimo recently announced that it is to handle sales of Shen Jie’s Chinese animation film The Umbrella Fairy. That is in addition to previously announced titles by veteran directors, Feng Xiaogang’s “If You Are the One 3” and Xu Haofeng’s “100 Yards,” which played last year at the Shanghai and Toronto festivals and at Rotterdam in early 2024. Fortissimo was also responsible for selling rights to cutting edge Chinese animation “Deep Sea” by Tian Xiaopeng.