Following its withdrawal from last month's Singapore International Film Festival after being censored for its gay theme and explicit sex, Singapore drama Solos will make its market debut in Cannes through Lighthouse Pictures.

As part of its aim to venture into international sales, the Singapore independent distributor will handle the picture's worldwide sales excluding Singapore.

'We provide the missing link. While local producers may have the money to make films, as we can see more independent productions are coming out from Singapore, they don't know what to do exactly when it comes to sales,' says Lighthouse's Thomas Chia, adding that the deal sees the company representing the picture only in Cannes, with the option to renew after the market.

The deal marks the first local content that Lighthouse will represent internationally. The company for two years handled sales of a library of 200 films from Russia 's Intercinema XXI Century at the Asian Film Market in Singapore.

Theatrical distribution is currently its main business with upcoming titles such as Andrey Zvyagintsev's The Banishment which will play in competition at Cannes this year. Since April, it has also resumed its distributor-for-hire role for MGM's specialty titles, including Breach and the upcoming The Flying Scotsman.

In Cannes, Lighthouse will be under the umbrella of the MDA (Media Development Authority) Singapore pavilion which will have a record 13 local companies promoting 20 new projects. Solos is directed by young Singapore filmmakers Kan Lume and Loo Zihan and produced by Red Dawn Productions' founder Florence Ang.

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