EXCLUSIVE: Dean Devlin’s Electric Entertainment has picked up all international rights to SXSW audience award winner Before I Disappear and will commence sales in Cannes.

The announcement comes as sales agents scramble to assemble fresh line-ups for the Croisette at a time when new product is thin on the ground.

Before I Disappear director Shawn Christensen based the film on his 2013 Academy Award-winning live action short Curfew and stars alongside Fatima Ptacek, Emmy Rossum, Paul Wesley, Ron Perlman and Richard Schiff.

ICM Partners and Verve represent North American rights to the story of a man who must look after his niece on a night when he becomes embroiled in a fight between his two employers.

“We are absolutely thrilled to be representing Before I Disappear,” said Electric’s head of international distribution Sonia Mehandjiyska. “It’s a crowd-pleasing film with a great cast and wonderful performances and we at Electric look forward to bringing this award-winning film to audiences worldwide.”

Damon Russell of Fuzzy Logic, Lucan Toh of Wigwam Films, Christensen, Paul Wesley and Terry Leonard of Strongman produced and Christopher Eoyang, Nick Harbinson, Oliver Roskill and Emily Leo served as executive producers.

“We are delighted to be working with Electric on our international sales and distribution strategy,” said Toh. “Dean and his team have been strong supporters of the project to date, which coupled with their impressive track record and slate acquisitions, makes us extremely confident about our prospects in overseas markets.” 

Toh, Russell, Leonard, Peter Trinh of ICM Partners, Bryan Besser of Verve and production counsel Evan Krauss of Gray Krauss Stratford Sandler Des Rochers negotiated the deal on behalf of the filmmakers with Mehandjiyska.