Deckert Distribution has picked up world rights for Mehdi Sahebi's documentary Zeit Des Abschieds, which had its world premiere in Locarno's Critics Week sidebar last week and won the SRG SSR idee suisse Prize.

The film, which charts the last months in the life of AIDS victim dying of cancer in a hospice, is the first in-house project by Swiss distributor Cineworx's production arm Cineworx Filmproduktion and will be released theatrically in Switzerland by Cineworx.

Meanwhile, Munich-based sales company Bavaria Film International has followed the positive experience of handling Philip Groening's feature documentary Into Great Silence by now acquiring world rights to Florian Opitz's The Big Sellout. Addressing the consequences of privatisation on individuals' lives around the globe, the documentary was produced by the Cologne-based production outfit Discofilm whose past credits include Status Yo and A Quiet Love (Die Blaue Grenze).

"This is just the kind of film we would like to handle in future - ambitious and emotional cinema," said Thorsten Ritter, head of Bavaria Film International with responsibility for marketing and acquisitions, about The Big Sellout.