Korean animated feature Pilgrims has secured worldwide sales representation with EST N8, which will introduce the film to international buyers at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM). The deal marks a first for the film financing, sales and distribution company, making Pilgrims the first animated title on its roster. Directed by Heo Pyoung-kang, known for his work on Netflix’s Japan Sinks: 2020, the film arrives at the market after screening at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and winning an award at the Bucheon International Animation Festival (BIAF).
For EST N8, the acquisition opens a new chapter by bringing animation into its catalogue. The company will begin international sales at Busan, giving the Korean production an opportunity to reach distributors beyond its home market. The deal was negotiated by Sophie Changhui Shi, head of studios at EST N8, and Hugh Cha, co-CEO of Desert Bloom Pictures, who represented producer 21 Studios.
One of the film’s biggest draws is its literary source. Pilgrims is the first feature-film adaptation of author Kim Cho-yeop’s bestselling short-story collection If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light, which has sold more than 400,000 copies. The film adapts her story Why the Pilgrims Don’t Return, bringing its imagined world to the screen.
The story begins in a community that appears to have found a way to overcome human suffering. Its residents live in an idyllic society where emotional pain has been engineered out of existence. However, there is a condition attached to this seemingly perfect life. When residents turn 18, they must leave for Earth and spend a year there. Some return to their peaceful home, while others decide to stay away.
The central question in Pilgrims is what could make someone leave a life without sadness for a world filled with uncertainty and pain. Through this unusual journey, the film explores whether removing suffering also means losing something essential about being human. Its central mystery gives the story more than an imaginative setting, placing relationships, love and the choices people make at the heart of its narrative.
The film also brings together a creative team with experience across Korean and international productions. Heo Pyoung-kang directs the feature, drawing on his experience in Japanese animation, including Japan Sinks: 2020. Character designs are by Woo Hyun-song, whose credits include work on KPop Demon Hunters. The voice cast features Korean actors Kim Hyang-gi, Park Ji-hu and Lee Joo-young.
Its festival journey has helped establish the film ahead of its international sales launch. Pilgrims received the Technical Award at the 2025 Bucheon International Animation Festival before screening in the Animated Thrills & Chills section at this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival. The film has also been released in South Korean cinemas, giving it a domestic theatrical run ahead of its latest push into international markets.
The worldwide sales agreement puts the film before buyers who could help it reach audiences in other territories. For Korean animation, the deal also offers another opportunity to bring a locally rooted story to the international stage, supported by a bestselling literary source and recognition at major animation festivals.
As EST N8 takes the film to the Busan market, Pilgrims enters its next stage with a story that reaches beyond its futuristic setting. At its heart lies a question that needs no elaborate technology to understand: if a perfect life leaves no room for pain, can it ever offer everything worth living for?
