Cinecittà Luce has acquired Italian rights to Algerian Saïd Ould-Khelifa’s Zabana!, a contender in Dubai’s Muhr Arab feature competition, from French sales company Wide Management.

The hard-hitting film, recounting the true story of Algerian militant Ahmed Zabana who was guillotined by the French in 1956 for his role in his country’s independence struggle, is Algeria’s Oscar and Golden Globes submission this year.

The film is produced by Alger-based Laith Media with the backing of state-backed Algerian Agency for Cultural Outreach.

Other Wide Management titles in Dubai this year include French-Senegalese Alain Gomis’ Today (Tey), starring US hip-hop poet and actor Saul Williams opposite Aïssa Maïga as a man in the final 24 hours of his life, which is competing in the Muhr AsiaAfrica section.

The Paris-based sales company is also screening a slew of titles in the Cinetech video library, including Syrian Hala Alabdalla’s As If We Were Catching a Cobra about how Middle East cartoonists captured the beginning of the Arab Spring.