Sundance Selects acquired US rights to Cannes competition entry Sleeping Beauty on Sunday night [15] as momentum gathered on several domestic plays on the Croisette.

Julia Leigh’s psycho-sexual drama stars Emily Browning as a young student drawn into a mysterious hidden world of unspoken desires.

Arianna Bocco, svp of acquisitions and productions for Sundance Selects, brokered the deal with UTA on behalf of the filmmakers. UTA represents Leigh and Browning and Browning is managed by Michael Aglion and Catherine Poulton in Australia.

As previously reported on Screendaily, eOne Films International handles foreign sales and closed a handful of deals just before the market. Rights went to Wild Bunch in Benelux, Seven Films in Greece, Xenix in Switzerland and Incognito for the Baltics.

Deals also closed with Carmen Films for the former USSR excluding the Baltics and Lev Cinemas for Israel. ARP Selection closed a deal for France in February, Transmission will release in Australia and eOne in Canada.

Meanwhile buyers were circling Paolo Sorrentino’s competition entry This Must Be The Place starring Sean Penn ahead of the world premiere on Friday. Floating on the fringes of the market but very much on the minds of US buyers here, Annapurna Pictures’ John Hillcoat Western The Wettest County and Kathryn Bigelow thriller Kill Bill Laden were also attracting interest.

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