Beautiful Boxer, the Thai sex change film which plays at next week's Outfest Lesbian and Gay festival, has wrapped up a string of new sales for sales agent Arclight Films.

Announced at Hong Kong's FilMart, new sales include a deal with Regent Entertainment's Regent Releasing for US and Canada, with Mikado for Italy and Lauren Films for Spain.

Based on a true story, the film directed by Ekachai Uekrongtham sees a man enter the dangerous but lucrative sport of Muay Thai kick-boxing in order to finance an operation that makes him a woman. It also stars Asanee Suwan, a real-life boxer.

Taking the deals total to 20, Arclight previously licensed Boxer to Gaga Communications for Japan, Golden Screen for Malaysia, Deal for France Non Stop Entertainment for Scandinavia and Tartan Films for the UK.

"The film attracted a great deal of attention initially because of the controversial true story it was based upon. But the fact that it's been snapped by top distributors in all the major territories so quickly is testimony to its artistic merits and wide mainstream appeal, said Gary Hamilton, managing director of Arclight. "Beautiful Boxer will be one of the major breakout Thai films of the year - artistically and commercially."

Boxer was made with funding from Thailand's largest entertainment conglomerate GMM Grammy and produced by Uekrongtham's Spicy Apple Films.