As the first weekend of Tribeca drew to a close no major deals had been signed although sellers claimed several titles were in play and HBO was understood to be poised to announce an acquisition early this week.

On paper Cheryl Hines’ directorial debut Serious Moonlight based on a screenplay by the late Adrienne Shelly and starring Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton offered commercial appeal. Andrew Herwitz’ Film Sales Company is handling worldwide rights and several North American buyers were understood to be interested.

Also in play after several weekend screenings were Ti West’s retro horror The House Of The Devil and Conor McPherson’s directorial debut The Eclipse, both represented by Submarine.

Julio DePietro’s The Good Guy has also won its admirers, although one buyer suggested the Wall Street tale might struggle to find its audience.

Marshall Curry’s documentary Racing Dreams represented by Cinetic Media and Michael Cuesta’s horror story Tell Tale starring Josh Lucas have also been among the more popular early draws.

Endeavor Independent is handling sales on Tell Tale and Friday’s [April 24] premiere was interrupted when an audience member suffered what appeared to be heart failure during the latter stages of the film, ironically a psychological thriller about a man whose life takes a turn for the worse following a heat transplant.

Two pre-festival acquisitions were unveiled last week. First Run Pictures took US rights to Israeli film-maker Yoav Shamir’s anti-semitism documentary Defamation, while ESPN acquired television rights for its ESPN Films division to Jonathan Hock’s baseball documentary The Lost Son Of Havana.

The festival opened on Wednesday night [April 22] with the world premiere of Woody Allen’s comedy Whatever Works starring Larry David, Rachel Evan Wood and Patricia Clarkson. Sony Pictures Classics holds North American rights.

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