Germany's Bavaria Film International has struck a six picture deal with Israel's Orlando Film and has concluded further sales on its Berlin 2003 slate.

Orlando bought rights to Soenke Wortmann's hit drama The Miracle Of Bern (Das Wunder Von Bern), Santiago Loza's Extrano, Martin Rejtman's The Magic Gloves (Los Guantes Magicos), Cesc Gay's In The City (En La Cuidad), Jaime Rosales The Hours Of The Day (Las Horas Del Dia) and Berlin competition title Distant Lights (Lichter) by Hans Christian Schmid.

Distant Lights was also sold to Les Films Du Safran for France, while In The City was also sold to Blanco Y Treviso for Venezuela and Primer Plano for Argentina. US TV rights to Beatriz Flores Silva's En La Puta Vida were licensed to HBO.

Wortmann's Miracle Of Bern has been a runaway hit in its German home market, scoring over 1.8 million admissions, but Bavaria, which previously handled German Oscar hopeful Good Bye Lenin!, has yet to give it a big push in international markets. The Orlando deal suggests that it could go far.

'On the surface this film could be problematic for buyers, but we now believe that it has the potential to be able to keep up with Lenin,' said a Bavaria insider. 'Some buyers who see this as a football [soccer] film, may not feel comfortable with the Germans winning every time, but when they see it they will discover that really this is a crowd pleasing father and son story.'