Fortissimo Films has sealed a raft of sales to various distributors in France, including ARP, which has acquired out-of-competition title Ashes Of Time Redux, and La Fabrique de Films, which has snapped up Madonna documentary I Am Because We Are.

In addition, Films sans Frontieres has acquired Iranian director Majid Majidi's Berlin Silver Bear winner Song Of Sparrows. ARP has also signed on for Un Certain Regard title Tokyo Sonata, directed by Japan's Kiyoshi Kurosawa, while La Fabrique has also picked up Alex Rivera's Sleep Dealer.

Meanwhile competition title Serbis, directed by the Philippines' Brillante Mendoza, has been licensed to the distribution arm of its French co-producer Swift.

According to Fortissimo Films' co-chairman Michael Werner, the range of nationalities of the projects sold underscores that France is 'still a really vibrant market for cinema from around the globe'.

The UK is also shaping up to be an active territory for Fortissimo with Metrodome buying Battle Of Wits and Artificial Eye acquiring the Wong Kar War library and Hal Hartley library.

Among other deals Israel's United King has bought a package of six films from Fortissimo including Serbis, Chevolution, Gigantic, I Am Because We Are, Country Wedding and Song Of Sparrows.

Song Of Sparrows has also gone to Benelux (Cinemien) and Norway (Action), while Jordanian title Captain Abu Raed went to Taiwan's Khan Pictures and Spain's Golem. Taiwan's Joint Entertainment has snapped up Andrei Konchalovsky's Gloss: The Director's Cut.

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