LA-based Shoreline Entertainment has acquired worldwide rights to the Canadian feature, The Bay Of Love And Sorrows.

Starring Peter Outerbridge, Jonathan Scarfe, and Elaine Cassidy, directed by Tim Southam and produced by Toronto-based Triptych Media, the film is an adaptation of leading native novelist David Adams Richards, who co-wrote the screenplay with Southam.

It tells the story of an idealistic young man who returns to his rural hometown hoping to change things for the better only to find himself the pawn in the machinations of a drug dealer.

The film premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival in 2002 and received a limited release in Canada in January 2003. Critics generally admired the film, particularly for Outerbridge's performance, but it drew typically underwhelming box office returns.

Shoreline plans to market the film through its new Watermark label, which has handled such recent titles crime thriller Irish Eyes and Mexican heist film Real Time. In a release, Shoreline CEO Morris Ruskin said, "This is a beautiful, haunting film that features superb performances. It's an unpredictable film that stays with you long after its over."

Founded by Robin Cass, Louise Garfield and Anna Stratton, the prolific Triptych has several features in the market, including Depha Mehta's The Republic Of Love and Scott Smith's Falling Angels.