US indie distributor Strand Releasing has picked up Kai S Pieck's feature debut The Child I Never Was (Ein Leben Lang Kurze Hosen Tragen) (pictured) which is being handled internationally by Bavaria Film International.

Premiering last year at the Hof Film Days, the film is based on the life of Germany's most famous child murderer Juergen Bartsch who, between the ages of 15 and 19, abused, tortured and killed four schoolboys in the Ruhr region of Germany from 1962 to 1966.

Pieck's film had its US premiere in June at the New Festival - New York Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and was also screened at the San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, where it won the $10,000 Levi's First Feature award.