Other titles on Toronto slate include Billy Pols’ bio-doc Zombie [pictured] about cult skateboarder Tim Zom and Johan Grimonprez’s upcoming arms trade exposé Shadow World.

Paris-based documentary specialist Wide House has acquired a trio of new titles ahead of Toronto including Claire Simon’s Place Aux Jeunes, a portrait of France’s world famous La Fémis film school.

It is the latest documentary from French director Simon, whose Gare du Nord - going behind-the-scenes of Paris’s biggest train station - recently competed at Locarno.

Other new acquisitions include Zombie: The Resurrection of Tim Zom by Dutch filmmaker Billy Pols, about a Rotterdam-born skateboarding star with a dark childhood. The documentary, featuring footage of Zom in action, premiered at Rotterdam earlier this year.

Wide, which has a growing arts and culture line, has also acquired Juan Alvarez Neme’s Avant about celebrated Argentine dancer Julio Bocca and his work rebuilding Uruguay’s National Ballet Company.

The company will also continue sales on Johan Grimonprez’s highly-anticipated Shadow World, an exposé of the international arms trade inspired by South African writer and human rights campaigner Andrew Feinstein’s eponymous book, which is due for delivery in early 2015.

Sales

Ahead of Toronto, Wide also reported a slew of new sales on its existing slate.

Swiss Stefan Haupt’s 1950s-set, gay rights-themed doc-drama The Circle has sold to Benelux (ABC Cinemien), Austria (DV8-Film), Taiwan (Movie cloud), Thailand (Movie Matter Co Ltd), Denmark (Reel Pictures), Poland (Tongariro Releasing) and Macedonia (KT Film & Media Dooel).

Previously announced deals on the title include to North America (Wolfe Video), France (Outplay) and the UK (Matchbox).

The company has also been racking up sales on The Great Museum, capturing Vienna’s world famous Kunsthistorisches Museum, sealing new deals for Hungary (Cinefil Co. Ltd), ex-Yugoslavia (Discovery Film & Video), Taiwan (Creative Century), Australia and New Zealand (Hi Gloss Entertainment), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Film Europe Media Company), Denmark (Reel Pictures) and Sweden (Starlet Media).  

It had previously sold to the US and Canada (Kino Lauber), Japan (Doma Inc.), France (Jour2Fete), UK (Matchbox), Italy (Officine Ubu) and Switzerland (Xenix Filmdistribution).

Ballet Boys, about a group of young dance students, has also recently sold to Canada (Kinosmith) and Taiwan (Swallow Wings). 

Previous deals include to France (ZED), UK (Matchbox), Germany (CMV Laservision) and Japan (Uplink).

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