'North Sea Texas'
Strand Releasing has acquired U.S. rights to Bavo Defurne's coming-of-age story "North Sea Texas" from Wavelength Pictures.
Strand made the announcement Wednesday. "North Sea" will have its U.S. premiere at the Palm Springs Film Festival, which opens Thursday.
Pic recently screened at the Rome Cinema Festival, where it received a youth prize, the Alice Nella Citta 13+ Award, from a jury of teenagers.
The Belgian production, titled "Noordzee Texas" for its local release, is Defurne's feature film debut and adapted from Andre Sollie's novel "This Is Everlasting." Story follows a teenager's search for love, with his affections first turning toward the rugged, motorcycling boy next door.
"We're thrilled to add Bavo's film to our library. He's a great stylist, and this is really an impressive feature debut. We acquired his short films for a DVD package several years ago, and he is a filmmaker that we've been tracking for quite a while," said Marcus Hu, co-president of Strand Releasing.
"North Sea" will screen Jan. 12 and 14 at Palm Springs.
Strand plans a late summer release.
Contact Dave McNary at
dave.mcnary@variety.com