• Pathe International's The Hole has emerged as one of the briskest selling UK titles of the market, where it was taken by Spain's Sogepaq, Germany's Tobis, Scandinavia's Sandrews and Italy's Nexo (buying outside its New Line output deal for the first time). Francois Ivernel, head of Pathe's UK operation Pathe Entertainment, said the operation is also close to a deal for Japan. Other markets sold on the film during London or Milan include Israel, which was taken by Shani, Czech Republic, which sold to Daway, and Poland, acquired by SPI.
  • Pandora's highly anticipated Donnie Darko has been sold to Prokino for Germany, Key Films for Italy, Dan Films for Scandinavia, Video Vision for South Africa, Noah for Israel, Jaguar for the Middle East and ANS for Turkey. The film, directed by newcomer Richard Kelly, and which stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Drew Barrymore, Mary McDonnell, Patrick Swayze and Noah Wyle, is the third to flow from Barrymore's Flower Films after Never Been Kissed and Charlie's Angels.
  • Spain's Lolafilms has sold a package of its back catalogue films to HBO in the US. The deal comprises five pictures: Dying Of Laughter, Tangos Are For Two, A Sweet Scent Of Death, Don't Tell Anyone and Torrente. Meanwhile, Lolafilms has struck a number of deals on Common Wealth, selling the Alex de la Iglesia picture to Europa Films for Brazil, Arthouse for Greece, Fivia for Croatia and Tutt for Slovenia. Other Lolafilms deals struck at MIFED include selling Girl From Rio to Fast Film for Brazil, and Second Skin and Masterpiece to Arthouse for Greece.
  • UK-based The Sales Co has sold Liam to Quality for Mexico, Ster Kinekor for South Africa, Budapest Film for Hungary and Orler for Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile. Sales Co also sold Last Resort and When Brendan Met Trudy to Pol Media for Poland. Sales Co's Kat Galer is joining outgoing Sales Co chief Alison Thompson at UK-based sales operation Pathe International, where Galer will be head of marketing.
  • Quantum Entertainment has scored key sales on its actioner Doomsdayer starring Joe Lara and Udo Keir. Highlight has taken German rights, Eagle Pictures has taken Italy, Polsat has taken Poland, Hellas has taken Greece, Art Port has taken Japan and Cinetank has taken Korea.
  • Svensk Filmindustri (SF) has closed Japanese deals on its trio of big pictures. Gossip and You Really Got Me were both sold to Alcone Terran, while Sleepwalker was sold to Marubeni. Deals on Sleepwalker also closed with Tot Media in Spain and with distributors in Indonesia and Venezuela. Gossip went to Rosebud for Greece. SF also secured a 25-title package deal with the UK video-on-demand operator Video Networks (Homechoice).
  • Following its dramatic box office success with In The Mood For Love, UK distributor Metro Tartan has bought another high profile Asian film. From Korea's CJ Entertainment it bought Venice festival drama The Isle, directed by Ki-duk Kim.
  • Carrie Wong's powerhouse sales company Golden Network has sold Korean submarine drama Phantom to Creative Workshop for Hong Kong and Overseas for Singapore. Deals in The Netherlands and Yugoslavia were also completed. The Ilshin Investments-financed picture was also one of three Golden Network titles sold to Warna Picture Boxindo for Indonesia, which also licensed Soul Guardians and Dr K. Golden Network also sold Little Cheung to Dong Soong Art Centre for South Korea, while Creative Workshop took Contact. Israel's Shoval bought Going To School With Dad On My Back and Wing Chan.
  • Australian distributor Niche Pictures has acquired local and New Zealand rights to Mexican film Love's A Bitch (Amores Perros) directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu from Lions Gate International. UK independent distributor Optimum Releasing has also acquired the film which it plans to release on 10-plus prints next May. Meanwhile, Optimum is partnering with Chris Blackwell's Palm Pictures to release Dark Days, the documentary feature about New York's underground homeless community that was a multiple winner at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
  • Miramax International has closed a major package deal with France's Bac Films for its latest slate with titles including Scary Movie 2 and Equilibrium starring Christian Bale and Emily Watson.
  • Twin Co Ltd has bought rights in Japan and Scandinavian Entertainment Group in Norway to Francisco Lombardi's Captain Pantoja And The Special Services from Neil Friedman's Menemsha Entertainment. Sagittaire and Bac Films jointly acquired French rights to the film earlier in the market. The erotic comedy adapted from Mario Vargas Llosa's novel Pantaleon attracted more than one million admissions in Peru.
  • Myriad Pictures/J&M Entertainment has closed deals in most remaining territories for Dungeons And Dragons. Becker Entertainment has bought for Australia to be released through REP Distributors, Egmont has Scandinavia and Shapira Films has Israel. Dungeons And Dragons is being released by New Line in the US on December 8.
  • RGH/Lions Share Pictures has closed a string of deals on John Hancock directed romantic comedy A Piece Of Eden. Showtime has picked up pay-per-view rights for the film in Australia, while Spain's TV One has taken all rights. Standard Filmcilik has taken TV rights for Turkey; Suraya Film Production has secured the film for Indonesia and Malaysia. Aix Production and Distribution acquired rights for the Philippines. Suraya, TV One and Aix have also taken rights in their respective territories for RGH/Lions Share Pictures' drama Catalina Trust. Suraya also bought drama Savage Lagoon. Meanwhile, RGH/Lions Share Pictures has just acquired international rights to Bravo Production' Exile In Buyukada about Leon Trotsky's exiled years in Istanbul. The docu-drama is narrated by Vanessa Redgrave.
  • The UK's Winchester Films has sold MGM title Heartbreakers to Advanced for Germany, Icon for the UK, Sogepaq for Spain and CLT-Ufa for France and Benelux. The comedy also went to Italia Films for the Middle East, MGN Paradise for Russia and TMC for Turkey.
  • Miramax has acquired US rights to Spanish horror movie The Nameless (Los Sin Nombre) from Filmax International. The Nameless is the second film that Filmax has sold to Mira