US premiere set for Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Traction Media has come on board for North American sales of Zam Salim’s Up There.

The filmmakers are currently in negotiations with another sales company to handle interneational.

After premiering at the 60th Mannheim-Heidelberg Filmfestival in November, Up There will have its US premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (which starts Jan 26).

The comedy is set in the afterlife. Salim, who wrote and directed, based the feature on his short film hit Laid Off. The cast features Burn Gorman, Kate O’Flynn, and Aymen Hamdouchi.

The film was backed by the UK Film Council, Creative Scotland and BBC Films. It is a Wilder Films production in association with Eyeline Entertainment. Wilder’s Annalise Davis produced, with Andy Paterson serving as executive producer.

Salim is a former Screen International Star of Tomorrow.