Paris-based sales agent Funny Balloons hasclosed its first deals on Jean-Jacques Zilbermann's Bad Spelling (LesFautes D'Orthographe) ahead of its world premiere as Locarno InternationalFilm Festival's opening film on the Piazza Grande on August 4.

The coming of age story set in the 1960s,starring Carole Bouquet, Olivier Gourmet and rising star Damien Jouillerot, hasbeen sold to Switzerland's Mont-Blanc Distribution, Belgium's Les Films deElysee, Romania's Independenta Film and Bolivia's BabillaCine, withnegotiations underway with distributors in Germany, the USA, Spain and Japan.

According to Funny Balloons' Jose Dubey, theproduction by AGAT Films & Cie will be released in France by BAC Films onNovember 3 on a planned 200-300 prints.

Funny Balloons is also handling world sales onBenoit Delepine and Gustave Kervern's Aaltra, Fernando Eimbcke's CannesCritics Week film Duck Season (Temporada De Patos), and Fabrice duWelz's The Ordeal (Calvaire).