Germany's Bavaria Film International has picked up international sales rights to Aki Kaurismaki's new film The Man Without A Past (Mies Vailla Menneisyytta), which will appear in a Cannes competition slot.

The Man Without A Past (pictured) is produced by the director's company Sputnik and co-produced with Kaurismaki regulars, Germany's Pandora Filmproduktion and France's Pyramide with Sweden's Wilmar Andersson holding Nordic rights.

The film was originally on sales agent Christa Saredi's slate - like most of Kaurismaki's previous films - until the closure of her company, World Sales Christa Saredi, earlier this year.

"We knew the film was there, and when we heard that Christa was going to stop we saw our chance," Bavaria Film International's Thorsten Schaumann told Screendaily. "We quickly courted Kaurismaki, Sputnik and Christa because this is a film we very much believe in. He is an acknowledged director, whose films have been sold around the world for a decade, and this film very much proves that he is still in great form. That is why we have already had several highly motivating offers from all over the world."

The Man Without A Past, which Kaurismaki wrote, directed and produced, follows a nameless man, who must return to normal life after loosing his memory and identity. The budget was Euros1.5m, and the backers include the Finnish Film Foundation, Nordic Film&TV Fund and Finnish broadcaster YLE1. The film received rave reviews when it was released in Finland in March.

Kaurismaki also directed a segment of the Un Certain Regard-bound anthology Ten Minutes Older along with directors Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmush, Bernardo Bertolucci, Chen Kaige, Claire Denis, Victor Erice, Mike Figgis, Spike Lee, Jean-Luc Godard, Werner Herzog, Abbas Kiarostami, Jiri Menzel, Michael Radford, Istvan Szabo and Bertrand Tavernier.