Fortissimo Films has bolstered its slate for the upcoming European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin with two acquisitions.

The Amsterdam and Hong Kong-based sales agent has picked up Australian production Son Of A Lion, which was shot in Pakistan by first-time director Benjamin Gilmour. The deal, which includes worldwide rights outside Australia, was brokered by Fortissimo co-chairman Michael J. Werner and producer Carolyn Johnson.

Fortissimo has also acquired world rights outside the UK and North America to award-winning UK documentary Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go, directed by Kim Longinotto.

Son Of A Lion , which screens in the Forum section of this year's Berlin Film Festival, tells the story of a young pashtun boy who works with his father in the local firearms manufacturing industry, but secretly dreams of going to school.

Werner said the film 'portrays a very troubled region of the world hardly seen in films, yet is at once powerful and realistic with humanistic overtones as well as a message of hope.'

Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go follows a group of children with extreme behavioral problems at an Oxford boarding school. The film recently won best British feature documentary at Britdoc and a special jury prize at IDFA.

Fortissimo's senior vice president, TV and ancillary sales, negotiated the deal with producer Roger Graef at Films of Record.

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