EXCLUSIVE: Fortissimo Films chairman Michael Werner said on Friday (January 30) the company had bulked up its EFM war chest with international rights to Chloé Zhao’s recent Sundance premiere.

Songs My Brothers Taught Me debuted to high acclaim in Park City earlier this week in the US Dramatic Competition section and stars non-professional leads John Reddy and Jashaun St John.

Beijing-born Zhao directed from her own screenplay about a teenager and his younger sister on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation who find themselves on separate paths to rediscover the meaning of home.

Significant Productions’ Forest Whitaker and Nina Yang Bongiovi hold North American rights to Songs My Brothers Taught Me and produced along with Zhao, Mollye Asher and Angela C Lee.

Fortissimo svp of acquisitions Berenice Fugard negotiated the deal with Bongiovi and the company is already understood to be fielding offers.

The new arrival joins a Berlin sales slate that includes festival selections Breathe Umphefumlo and Sergio Herman: Fucking Perfect.

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