Rome arthouse distributor Bim has acquired Italiandistribution rights to a host of Venice films, including competition titles BrokebackMountain and The Constant Gardener.

Sold by Focus/UIP, Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain is about therelationship between a Wyoming ranch-hand and a rodeo cowboy. Heath Ledger andJake Gyllenhaal co-star.

The Constant Gardener, which opened in North America onAugust 31, is based on the novel by John Le Carre. UIP is handlinginternational distribution on the film by City of God director FernandoMereilles.

Bim head Valerio De Paolis has also snapped up Italiandistribution rights to Spanish director Isabel Coixet's La Vida Secreta DeLas Palabras. Sold by Focus Features, the film stars Sarah Polley as asolitary nurse brought to an oil rig to care for burns victim Tim Robbins. Thepicture is screening out-of-competition in Venice's Orizzonti section.

Also on Bim's new slate is Directors Fortnight title ElioPetri. Appunti su Un Autore, a documentary about the late Italian directorby Federico Bacci, Nicola Guarneri e Stefano Leone.

Meanwhile, De Paolis has picked up Italian rights to 10newly-restored classic Chinese films from the 1930s and 40s, which arescreening in Venice as part of the Secret History of Asiasn Cinema sidebar.

The films include China's firstanimation feature, Tieshan gongzhu, a1941 film from brothers Wan Laiming and Wan Guchanj.