Attesting to the slow pace of deal-making at the festival, Miramax made the highest profile acquisition during Venice, with a film that is not even screening at the event. And Paramount Classics grabbed competition film The Triumph Of Love.

Miramax nabbed large chunks of international rights to Himalayan adventure picture, The Warrior, acquiring all rights in North and South America, Italy, Australia and China.

Sold by FilmFour International, The Warrior was directed by first-timer Asif Kapadia and co-written by Tim Miller. The movie is a FilmFour, Senator Films, and British Screen co-production and was produced by Bertrand Faivre.

The film premiered at last month's Edinburgh International Film Festival and will be distributed elsewhere by: Ocean in France, Senator Films in Germany, Alta Classics in Spain, Gulf Films in the Middle East and FilmFour in the UK. It will also screen in official competition at San Sebastian later this month.

The Warrior was brought to Miramax's attention by Maeva Gatineau and Elizabeth Dreyer, Miramax vice presidents of acquisitions. Stuart Ford, senior vice president of acquisitions and international operations, and Isabel Begg, head of business and legal affairs for Miramax UK, negotiated the deal on behalf of Miramax. Janine Gold and Andrew Hildebrand negotiated for FilmFour.

Miramax, which turned up the acquisitions temperature at Cannes earlier this year after an apparent lull, may strike again soon. It is in hot pursuit of Walter Salles' Behind The Sun (Abril Despecado), which screened yesterday (Sept 6) in competition in Venice. So far the only rights that have been sold by producer Arthur Cohn's Videofilmes have gone to French co-producer Bac Films.

The other major deal of the festival was Paramount Classics' move to grab rights in all English-speaking territories, Latin America and Japan to Clare Peploe's competition entry, The Triumph Of Love, which stars Mira Sorvino. The film was sold by the UK's HanWay Films.