EXCLUSIVE: Melody [pictured] piques buyer interest after Montreal wins.

Doc & Film has scored sales on Belgian director Bernard Bellefroid’s surrogate mother drama Melody following an award-winning premiere at the Montreal Film Festival earlier this month.

The tale of a mother-daughter relationship that blooms between an older woman and the younger surrogate mother of her unborn child has sold to Canada (Axia Films), Taiwan (Cineplex) and Benelux (Cineart).

Co-stars Rachel Blake and Lucie Debay shared the best actress prize at Montreal where the film played in competition and also picked up a special mention from the ecumenical jury. 

Paris-based Doc & Film have also sealed new deals on Frederick Wiseman’s National Gallery which screened in the TIFF Docs section.

In Toronto, it has sold to Switzerland (Xenix), Spain (Surtsey) and Benelux (Cineart). 

The film is due to be released in the US by Zipporah Films on Nov 5 after a premiere at New York’s Film Forum theatre.

Cannes deals for National Gallery comprised to the UK (Soda Pictures), Australia (Vendetta Films), Portugal (Leopardo), Italy (I Wonder Pictures), Germany (Kool Filmdistribution), Austria (Filmladen), Japan (Cetera), Taiwan (Swallow Wings) and Korea (Jinjin)

In other deals, Ossama Mohammed and Wiam Simav Bedirxan’s documentary Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait has sold to France (Potemkine), Spain (Paco Poch) and Portugal (Leopardo) with more sales underway.

The film capturing life in the war-torn Syrian city of Homs will have its North American premiere in Toronto tonight [Sept 9] before heading to the New York Film Festival.

Other TIFF titles on the Doc & Film slate include Ghassan Salhab’s The Valley and Raoul Peck’s Murder in Pacot.

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