Distribution Workshop has picked up international rights to Chinese director Steven Zhang Zhonghua’s IOU, a comedy drama set against the background of recent illegal fundraising scams, starring Aaron Kwok.
The film is produced by Hong Kong’s Julia Chu, reuniting with Kwok after their work together on Port Of Call (2015) and Where The Wind Blows (2022). Zhang is described as an emerging talent from China’s post-80s generation. Kwok is one of Hong Kong’s biggest stars, recently appearing in Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In.
Taipei-based Distribution Workshop will launch sales on the film at Filmart, which is taking place March 17-20 in Hong Kong.
Kwok plays a desperate man who is trying to repay his debts by any means necessary. He blockades the rural home of a pair of simple-minded but compassionate siblings, hoping to force their father home to repay his loan to him, but is forced to make an unexpected choice.
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First announced in 2020, IOU was selected to participate in the Golden Rooster Film Project Market and HKIFF Industry. Production started in early March with a budget of around $3M.
Zhang’s credits include Hearty Tomato (2012), which screened at Warsaw International Film Festival, The Home In The Tree (2019) and Home By The River (2025), which screened in competition at Poland Kinolub Film Festival.
In addition to IOU, Distribution Workshop’s Filmart slate includes Juno Mak’s Sons Of The Neon Night, Dante Lam’s recent Lunar New Year release Operation Hadal, Vincent Chow’s Little Red Sweet and Penguin Girl, from Taiwanese first-time director Yuyu Yang.
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