M-appeal, the Berlin-based sales company, has taken on the international distribution for Zaida Bergroth’s debut feature Last Cowboy Standing, which had its international premiere at the Pusan International Film Festival.

A co-production between Finland’s Juonifilmi and Germany’s Nicovantastic, the film’s story focuses on the bond between two brothers and their differing attitudes to their father.

It won Pusan’s inaugural Flash Forward Award, which aims to discover new directors from outside Asia, beating as Pawel Borowski’s Zero (Poland), Renen Schorr’s The Loners (Israel), Susanna Nicchiarelli’s Cosmonaut (Italy) and Titus Muntean’s Kino Caravan (Romania).

Meanwhile, Ida Martins’ Cologne-based sales outfit Media Luna New Films has picked up US independent filmmaker Stuart Culpepper’s third feature Jordan, which is currently in post-production in New York.

Starring Gregory Zaragoza, Liezl Carstens, Angelique Midthunder and Dan Strakal, the thriller is set in the remote mountains of New Mexico looks at the bond between a mother and her child and how far each one will go to protect it.

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