South Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo‘s new film, Nowhere to Lay My Eyes, has sold to Cinema Guild for North American distribution ahead of its world premiere in the international competition of the 79th edition of the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland next month.

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Nowhere to Lay My Eyes follows Sanghee (Kim Minhee) who, with her brother, visits her mother who settled down on Jeju Island. It’s been 10 years since she saw her mother. “Her stepfather, a documentarist, is making a film about a ‘grass tomb,’ while her mother’s restaurant has become a hit and she’s made a lot of money,” reads a synopsis of the movie. “She also meets her stepfather’s daughter, who has just started painting. Sanghee works for a snack import company, and in her spare time she makes very short films by herself. She spends two days with these people, as previously unknown facts, needless advice and cheap compliments are passed back and forth.”

In his 35th feature, Hong continues “his poetic expression through refined yet seemingly effortless craftsmanship,” Cinema Guild said. The film follows Sanghee through awkward conversations and unexpected discoveries combining into a “bittersweet reflection on the meaning, beauty, and complexity of life,” the company said.

Nowhere to Lay My Eyes reunites Hong with longtime collaborators Kim Minhee, Kwon Haehyo, Shin Seokho, and Park Miso, while also featuring actor Choi Myeonggil for the first time in one of his films.

“We can never run out of things to say about director Hong because he continues to surprise with each new release,” said Cinema Guild president Peter Kelly. He called Nowhere to Lay My Eyes “a wonderful film to behold with a captivating performance by Kim Minhee.”

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The acquisition deal was negotiated by Kelly of Cinema Guild with Youngjoo Suh of Finecut.

Cinema Guild, a distributor of world cinema, independent films, and documentaries, previously released Hong Sangsoo’s The Day She Returns and What Does That Nature Say to You. Titles from Locarno 2025 that landed at Cinema Guild were Kamal Aljafari’s With Hasan in Gaza and Aleksandre Koberidze’s Dry Leaf.

Locarno 2026, taking place Aug. 5-15, will also present new works from U.S. filmmakers Erin Vassilopoulos (Superior) and Vincent Grashaw (Keep Quiet), Senegal’s Mamadou Dia (Demba), and Canada’s Denis Côté (Vic and Flo Saw a Bear) and Wayne Wapeemukwa (Luk’Luk’I).

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