Philippine-owned Unitel Pictures International has acquiredworldwide rights excluding North America to Ian Gamazon and Neill De La Llana'skidnapping thriller Cavite for representation at this week's AFM in Santa Monca.

Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's Truly Indie Filmsis handling the picture in North America, which will become one of the firstreleases under the new 2929 Entertainment label.

"It's a natural for us because the film's co-directors, IanGamazon and Neill De La Llana, are Filipino Americans, and Unitel is aFilipino-American outfit with extensive experience in securing internationaldistribution and exhibition for such films," Cindy Sison, who negotiates andhandles all foreign sales deals for Unitel, said.

Unitel president Tony Gloria and his team have been tracking Cavite since it launched at Rotterdam this year.The picture won special jury prizes at South by Southwest, the San FranciscoInternational Asian American Filmfest, and the Woodstock Film Festival.

Unitel PicturesInternational launched in early 2004 with the US theatrical release of CryingLadies, the Philippines'official foreign language Academy Awards entry for this season.