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Director Jason R. Goode and producer Dylan Jenkinson teamed on the shorts “The Planting” and “Late” before making their feature debuts with “Numb,” world premiering at Busan in the Midnight Passion selection. U.S. sales agents Cinema Management Group are presenting the film at the Asian Film Market. The film has already been pre-sold to Front Row for the Middle East, Stars Media for ex-Yugoslavia, Sandrew Metronome for Scandinavia and Associated Euromedia for Turkey.
“We always had a global audience in mind when we were developing the script and making the film,” Goode said. “The story for ‘Numb’ is a very visceral and relatable one for people across cultures, so we’ve always imagined the film drawing attention outside of North America. So when Busan invited the film, we were ecstatic,” he continued.
“Numb” is a Canada-set survival thriller where an impecunious couple find GPS coordinates that supposedly lead to stolen gold who must team up with a mysterious pair of hitchhikers to help them conquer the wilderness.
“We feel ‘Numb’ is a very sellable genre film. Some of the world’s most passionate genre fans exist in markets like South Korea and Japan, so ‘Numb’ succeeding here at the Asian Film Market is an important step to reaching those audiences,” Jenkinson said.
The film’s leads Marie Avgeropoulos and Aleks Paunovic (“iZombie) are in Busan for the premiere. Avgeropoulos is known for post-apocalyptic television drama series “The 100” and action feature “Tracers.”
Avgeropoulos said, “I feel very fortunate to be involved in both mediums and I personally choose roles based on script, creative people involved and dynamic characters that challenge me as an actress. I just want to be an honest storyteller that viewers can somehow relate to and have their own personal connection to.”
“Canadian films will always have to work that much harder to find an audience because of the proximity of the U.S., but ‘Numb’ is a great example of a film that is pushing its way through the crowd and barging down the film market door and getting attention,” says Paunovic.
Jenkinson/Goode Prods. produced with the support of Telefilm Canada, Super Channel and Rogers Telefund, and utilized competitive tax credits in the Okanagan region of British Columbia.
