Newly formed Dutch distributor Bright Angel Distribution has inked its first acquisition. It has bought all-Benelux rights to Cannes competition film Shara (Sharasoyju), which screens on the last Saturday of the festival. The deal was struck through French sales house Flach Pyramide International.

The film, directed by Japanese director Kawase Naomi, is a family story built around the disappearance of one of a pair of twins. Five years later the family starts to uncover the mystery behind the boy's vanishing act in the middle of a city festival.

Amsterdam-based Bright Angel was formed earlier this month by former Filmmuseum manager Chris Oosterom and Patrizia Raeli, the former head of acquisitions at London-based Metro Tartan. They plan to handle eight to ten art-house titles per year across The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

'I have known and admired Naomi's work for several years, since I first saw one of her documentaries and tried to buy Suzaku. Her work is visually stunning,' said Raeli. 'This film is set in the southern city of Nara, which is a fabulously exciting place and is an ancient capital of Japan.'

Shara is Kawase's sixth film and the second time in Official Selection. She won the Camera d'Or for best first film with Suzaku in 1997.

Bright Angel took its name from two films - Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cannes 2003 film Bright Future and Djamshed Usmonov's Angel On The Right - that Oosterom and Raeli had both bought for their previous employers.

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