The Match Factory has sold Venice award winner Teza to Switzerland (Trigon) and Italy (Ripley's Film).

On Saturday, Haile Gerima's feature won Venice's Special Jury Prize and the Osella for Best Screenplay (also by Gerima). On Friday, it also won the SIGNIS Award special mention and Cinema for UNICEF commendation in the Leoncino d'oro awards.

Teza has its North American premiere this week in Contemporary World Cinema and Gerima will also be in attendance. The story follows a German-educated intellectual who returns to his birthplace of Ethiopia during the repressive regime of Haile Mengistu.

Gerima's Washington, DC-based Negod-gwad produced with Karl Baumgartner's Cologne-based Pandora Film Production. Co-producers are Paris-based Unlimited and Cologne-based Westdeutscher Rundfunk.