Bavaria Film International has picked up international distribution rights for Marco Kreuzpaintner's $15.5m (Euros 10m) fantasy film Krabat which will have its world premiere in the official selection of the forthcoming Toronto International Film Festival.

Set in the 17th century, the story of Krabat, an orphan boy who is apprenticed to an evil sorcerer, is based on the internationally bestselling and prizewinning novel by Otfried Preussler, and stars David Kross (who recently appeared opposite Kate Winslet in Stephen Daldry's The Reader) in the title role with a cast including Daniel Bruehl, Christian Redl, Hanno Koffler, and Robert Stadlober.

Krabat is the third Kreuzpaintner film after Breaking Loose and Summer Storm to be handled internationally by Bavaria Film International and will have a wide release by 20th Century Fox in Germany on Oct 9.

The film was produced by Claussen+Woebke+Putz Filmproduktion in association with Krabat Filmproduktion a nd Brass Hat Films and co-produced by SevenPictures Film and B.A. Produktion, with funding from Filmstiftung NRW, FFF Bayern, the German Federal Film Board (FFA), Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg, BKM, Kuratorium Junger Deutscher Film and the European Union's MEDIA Plus Programme.

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