UK sales company Element Xhas picked up international rights to Letters To Ali, the first documentary by Australian-Chinese directorClara Law.

The film is a personalisedexamination of Australia's uniquely brutal policy of mandatory prison-campdetention for political asylum seekers a policy which extends to children. Itfollows the letters sent between an Afghani boy who has been imprisoned.

Law, who is better known forsensitive dramatic features, which include Floating Life and The Goddess Of 1967, said that she first heard of the case via a newspaperarticle, which she then followed up. "I became more and more involved, Iconsidered making a drama, a fiction, but felt that the authenticity would belost. There was also an urgency and immediacy to the subject. That was why inthe middle of 2003 I simply put down what I was doing, went ahead and shot thisessay film with a DV camera and funded it with my husband and myself."

Letters To Ali premiered in Venice last week and shows in Torontoin the Real To Reel section.

Element X is also handling saleson Kevin Spacey's Toronto gala world premiere Beyond The Sea.