EXCLUSIVE: New York-based distributor Dekanalog has acquired Huang Xi’s Daughter’s Daughter and Johnny Ma’s The Mother And The Bear, both of which debuted at last year’s Toronto Film Festival, for theatrical releases.
Daughter’s Daughter is the second feature from Huang Xi (Missing Johnny). Starring Sylvia Chang, the film follows Jin Aixia (Chang), who has two daughters. But Emma (Karena Lam), who grew up in New York, and Fan Zuer (Eugenie Liu), who grew up in Taipei, never knew about each other until well into adulthood.
When Zuer and her partner decide to try and get pregnant via in vitro fertilization, they wind up travelling to the US for treatments. Tragically, the couple dies there in an accident, but their embryo remains alive and well, and Aixia is left as its legal guardian. Arriving in New York, overwhelmed with grief, she is faced with the choice to donate, terminate, or find a surrogate for the embryo. But after a life spent feeling like she’s fallen short as a mother, who is she to decide what to do with her deceased daughter’s unborn child?
Sales for the title are being handled by Andrews Film, Ltd.
Huang Xi’s ‘Daughter’s Daughter’
In The Mother And The Bear, which will open in North American cinemas in 2026, school teacher Sumi (Leere Park) is hospitalized after a fall in snow-swept Winnipeg. Upon hearing the news, her anxious mother, Sara (Kim Ho-jung), flies from Seoul to be with her comatose daughter, and once Sara sets herself up in the young woman’s apartment, she discovers she doesn’t really know Sumi at all.
The Mother And The Bear is a Rhombus Media and Fabula production in association with Thin Stuff Productions and is produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada and Manitoba Film and Music in association with Ashland Hill Media Finance, Crave, and CBC Films. FilmNation Entertainment is handling world sales. Elevation Pictures will release the film in theatres across Canada.
“Daughter’s Daughter and The Mother and the Bear exemplify the types of films Dekanalog is committed to releasing: universal themes within unique stories, made by filmmakers with their own, distinct perspectives,” Dekanalog co-founder Lysa Le said in a statement.
“That each film includes a brilliant lead female performance (legendary actress Sylvia Chang in Daughter’s Daughter and Kim Ho-jung in The Mother and the Bear) is just icing on the cake.”
