Nordic distribution and production outfit Smile Entertainment, which has divisions in Denmark and Finland, has boosted rights acquisitions, grabbing a number of new titles for Scandinavia.

According to Smile head Timo T. Lahtinen, the increase is in part due to delays in the outfit's own productions and co-productions, caused by turbulence in the international financing markets.

Earlier this year Smile signed an agreement for feature developing and production with New York based Snapper Films, with the aim of co-producing a number of English-language feature projects over the next three years. Thus the increase in volume of Smile acquisitions has been in order to maintain growth and earning targets of the privately held company.

The titles picked up by Smile for Scandinavian distribution are Clare Peploe 's Venice and Toronto title The Triumph Of Love, starring Mira Sorvino and Ben Kingsley, and produced by Peploe's husband Bernardo Bertolucci; Edward Burns' thriller Ash Wednesday, starring Burns and Elijah Wood; James Toback' s thriller comedy Harvard Man, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Adrian Grenier and Eric Stoltz; Burr Steers' black comedy Igby Goes Down, starring Kieran Culkin, Ryan Philippe, Clare Danes, Susan Sarandon, Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman; and Brad Anderson's chiller Session 9, starring David Caruso, Peter Mullan and Josh Lucas.

Timo T. Lahtinen comments: "Our target is to bring quality films to the modern Scandinavian cinema-going audience, and we believe that these films fill that definition perfectly. The quality of these films combined with their expected U.S. theatrical releases as platform for local launch will strengthen our position in our home market."