US independent distributor Strand Releasing is to re-release Hector Babenco's classic 1985 independent film Kiss Of The Spiderwoman in the domestic market together with Independent Cinema Restoration Archive.

The film, for which William Hurt won an Academy Award for Best Actor, was produced by David Weisman and written by Leonard Schrader from the novel by Manuel Puig. The new deal was negotiated between Weisman and Jon Gerrans, co-president of Strand Releasing.

The film will be released in June and July in new prints across the country. Originally released by Island Alive in July 1985 at Cinema I in New York, it has long been out of circulation and only recently reverted to the producer after languishing in the Island library since its original opening.

The film is the first acquisition for the Independent Cinema Restoration Archive which was formed in 2000.