Porchlight Entertainment, the LA-based sales and production outfit specialising in family programming, has acquired international theatrical, TV and video rights to Heartwood, a coming of age story starring Hilary Swank and Jason Robards.

Swank, who is frontrunner to win this year's Best Actress Academy Award for Boys Don't Cry, plays the daughter of a mill manager who gets caught up with a small sawmill owner (Robards) and his battle to save the Redwood Forests from large corporate logging interests. Robards was last seen Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia.

Heartwood, which was originally made for screening on The Family Channel in 1998, is directed by Lanny Cotler and produced by Steve Cotler. The two Cotlers teamed up to write the screenplay. The movie will be screened at this month's American Film Market in Santa Monica.