UK indie distributor Gala has acquired UK rights to Sundance title L'Afrance, an African film which will next be seen in Rotterdam and is handled worldwide by Mercure Distribution's Jacques Le Glou.

L'Afrance, directed by Alain Gomis and previously selected for Locarno, is the coming-of-age tale of a young Senegalese student in Paris who is forced to question his own identity when a problem arises with his immigration papers.

Other hot titles on Mercure's 2002 slate include Berlin Panorama title Troisieme Oeil, a film about a small-time crook who escapes from the police on his way back to prison after his mother's funeral and meets a girl who has a gift of second sight, Manuel Poirier's next project, Les Femmes Et Les Enfants d'Abord, Patrice Pooyard's futuristic tale Qui Veut Devenir Une Star and the just-completed Spanish Harlem-set Lost And Found.