'Bashir' waltzes to three territories

Sales closed on U.K., France, Germany

By ED MEZA

BERLIN — Ari Folman’s animated Cannes contender “Waltz with Bashir” has been picked up by distribs in the U.K., France and Germany ahead of next week’s fest.

The Match Factory, the pic’s Cologne-based international sales company, inked deals with French distrib Le Pacte, Artificial Eye in the U.K. and Germany’s Pandora Filmverleih.

Touted as the first animated feature-length documentary in film history and based on interviews, pic tells the story of the director’s attempt to fill in the blanks in his memory of his time in the Lebanon War in the mid 1980s.

“Waltz with Bashir” was co-produced by Tel Aviv-based Bridgit Folman Film Gang, Les Films d’Ici in Paris and Berlin’s Razor Film.