Culture

Strand Releasing has acquired US rights to Bavo Defurne’s feature debut North Sea Texas. The film joins the distributor's strong portfolio of arthouse titles such as Cannes winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Head-onand Mysterious Skin. North Sea Texas is scheduled for a fall 2012 release in the US.

The film is currently being readied for its US premiere at the Palm Springs International Film Festival (5-16 January). This follows a stunning red carpet moment at the Rome International Film Festival, where it also grabbed the Marc’Aurelio Alice Nella Città 13+ Award, the main award in the fest’s Alice in the City competition, and the Montreal World Film Festival where it won the Silver Zenith Award.

"We're thrilled to add Bavo's film to our library. He's a great stylist, and this is really an impressive feature debut. We acquired his short films for a DVD package several years ago, and he is a filmmaker that we've been tracking for quite a while," said Marcus Hu, co-president of Strand Releasing.

North Sea Texas was produced by Yves Verbraeken for Indeed Films. International sales agent is Wavelength Pictures. The film was made with the support of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund.

North Sea Texas will screen on 12 and 14 January at Palm Springs.