International sales and financing outfit EST N8 has secured worldwide rights to “Dead End,” a Taiwanese action crime thriller from director Chan Chun-hao, and has launched the title to global buyers at the Cannes Film Market.
The film centers on Lin Sheng-yi, a former baseball star whose career collapsed under a game-fixing scandal. Returning to his hometown years later, he discovers that locals are wagering money on the exact hour his terminally ill father will die. With sunrise as his deadline, he races to dismantle the syndicate behind the scheme while reckoning with his own troubled history. The story draws from real-world reports of underground death-betting circles documented in Taiwan.
Daniel Hong, a double Golden Horse nominee recognized for “Miss Shampoo” and the Cannes-selected “Mongrel,” leads the cast. He is joined by Ng Ki-pin, a Golden Melody Award winner whose recent credits include “G Precinct,” and Yao Yi-ti, a Taipei Film Award winner and Golden Horse nominee known for “Dead Talents Society.”
Chan is a Golden Horse Film Academy graduate whose work “Viatical Settlement” received seven Golden Bell Award nominations. His 2025 series “The Outlaw Doctor” won Best Asian Contents at the Global OTT Awards in Busan and swept major categories at the Golden Bell Awards.
