Miramax has acquired Lone Scherfig's dogme title Italian For Beginners, one of the hottest titles in the main competition at the Berlin Film Festival since its screening on Friday, for release in the US, Mexico and English-speaking Canada.

Miramax is understood to have paid $600,000 for the romantic comedy, beating off several other buyers including USA Films. The Berlin festival has proved a fertile platform for dogme titles in previous years. In 1999, the third dogme film, Mifune, also clinched a domestic deal at the festival when it was sold to Sony Pictures Classics, albeit for a substantially smaller amount.

Italian, which is being sold by Zentropa's Trust Film Sales, is currently enjoying box office success in Denmark where it is expected to reach as many as 700,000 admissions before its finishes its run.

Trust also sold the film to Italy's Instituto Luce, Switzerland's Frenetic and Benelux distributor Upstream. Frenetic also acquired Swedish comedy Jalla! Jalla! from Trust.

Meanwhile Miramax's revamped international buying team, comprising Elizabeth Dreyer, Agnes Mentre and Maeva Gratineau, has also snapped up US rights to UK title Shiner, from IAC Films, and Belgian title Everybody Famous!, directed by Dominique Deruddere, from French sales outfit Mercure Distribution.