Australiantheatrical newcomer Accent Film Entertainment has acquired both Shortbus,which is still in pre-production, and Dumplings, from Fortissimo FilmSales.

"Hedwig And TheAngry Inch was such a wonderful film that we were very keen to jump onboard director John Cameron Mitchell's new film Shortbus aboutrelationships in New York post-9/11," said general manager George Papadopoulos.

Shortbus, like Hedwig, is likely to ruffle thefeathers of ultra-conservatives but he doesn't care: "Some of the best filmsare made in the era of ultra-conservative, right-wing governments like theHollywood films in the 1970s made under the Nixon Government. They were reallya reflection and an indictment of the government's ill-conceived conservativepolicies."

Accent describes Dumplingsas a unique, creepy Hong Kong horror film with a horrific revelatory climax. Italso has a knockout performance from Bai Ling, adds Papadopoulos. The dumplingsof the title have the power of rejuvenation and allow the film to reflect onmodern society's obsession with achieving eternal youth.

Dumplings is directed by Fruit Chan and is out of theApplause Pictures stable. It will be released in Australia this year.