BB Entertainment Marketing has picked up all NorthAmerican rights to Luis Mandoki's Innocent Voices from Lawrence BenderProductions and Altavista Films.

Marty Zeidman's Slowhand Cinema Releasing will release the El Salvadorian civilwar drama, which recently added the 2005 Seattle International Film Festival'sGolden Space Needle Award to its string of honours.

The picture will open in New York, Los Angeles and major markets nationwide onSept 23, 2005.

Based on the personal experiences of Mandoki's co-screenwriter Oscar Torres,Innocent Voices charts an 11-year-old boy as he endures war and childhood in1980s El Salvador.

"I made Innocent Voices because this coming-of-age story - about a boy and hismother's struggle to protect her children in the middle of a civil war - mademe reflect on the decisions we adults make that affect the lives of ourchildren in the world," Bender said.

"It is a story that every family should see as it makes us value the lives wehave and makes us think about the ones that don't have the same privileges. Italso makes us remember the magic of childhood."

BB Entertainment Marketing has signed Terry Hines and Associates to handlecreative and advertising.