EXCLUSIVE: Ashok Amritraj has bulked up his Cannes sales slate with the inspirational drama starring Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon.

Writer-director Laurie Collyer returns to familiar gritty territory after her Sundance 2006 entry Sherrybaby with the story of a convenience store worker and her paraplegic boyfriend.

When the woman discovers she is pregnant the couple are overjoyed but then she loses her job and they are evicted from their motel residence.

Norman Reedus rounds out the key cast and Original Media’s Charlie Corwin is producing with Freight Yard Films’ Andrea Roa and Ariel Elia on behalf of Empyrean Pictures.

Joshua Skurla and Dan Klabin serve as executive producers for Empyrean, which fully financed the film, alongside Simon Fawcett. Sunlight Jr is in post-production. CAA and Cassian Elwes co-represent domestic rights.

Hyde Park International’s sales slate include Hugh Hudson’s Midnight Sun, which has gone to Medusa for Italy and Alliance for Canada, and Scott Coffey’s comedy Adult World starring Emma Roberts, Evan Peters and John Cusack.