Neil Friedman'sLA-based sales agency Menemsha Films has picked up Pupendo, the latest film from Jan Hrebejk who directedMenemsha's previous Oscar-nominated hit Divided We Fall. Pupendois a huge hit in the Czech Republic and is on course to surpass previouschampions Kolya and Dark BlueWorld from Jan Sverak.

The film won the best filmaward at the 16th annual Pilsen Film Festival in the Czech Republicin March and has been selected for the competition section at Karlovy Vary inJuly.

The film is a bittersweetcomedy about the lives of two families in the former Czechoslovakia in themid-1980s. One plays by the rules of the regime in order to get ahead while theother goes against the grain and disregards the rules.

Boris Polivka and JaroslavDusek - the two lead actors from Divided We Fall - also take the leads in Pupendo. The film is written by Hrebejk's collaboratoron both Divided We Fall and hisfirst film Cozy Dens and the twoshare the "film by" credit on Pupendo, a testament to theirpartnership.

Menemsha sold Divided WeFall to Sony Pictures Classics inNorth America and the film grossed $1.3m in 2001. Friedman said he won'tbe screening the film in Cannes but will wait for the film to play fallfestivals.

"With the cinematiccollaboration of Jan and Petr, one plus one equals five," he toldScreendaily. "They are brilliant artists on their own but put together itbecomes very special. Not only wasDivided We Fall nominatedfor an Oscar and was a tremendous sales success but just as importantly thefilm was a tremendous box office success in many of those countries anddistributors made a lot of money with the film. Jan and Petr are one of thepremiere writer/director teams in cinema anywhere in the world."