Toronto - Cinemavault has closed key territory sales on the John Leguizamo toplined drama A Christmas Wish from Paul Allen's Vulcan Productions.

 

Rights have gone to Moonlight Films for Benelux, Telecine for Brazil, EIM for Ancillary, DBS Satellite for Israel, Front Row for the Middle East and ETV for South Africa. Cinemavault is also in active negotiations with distributors in Italy, CIS and the UK, which they hope to close imminently.

 

A sophomore film from director Salvatore Stabile, John Leguizamo (Moulin Rouge, Romeo + Juliet) stars as a down and out boxer who takes his young son on a journey around New York City to look for a home on Christmas Eve.

 

The film was released theatrically in the US through IFC and distributed through IFC Entertainment's exclusive deal with Blockbuster.

 

After premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival, A Christmas Wish won the Humanitas screenwriting award for a film developed or shown at Sundance, and was also an official selection at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

 

Cinemavault has also closed additional sales on Anders Banke’s NEWSMAKERS, the first ever Russian remake of an Asian film based on Hong Kong producer/director Johnnie To’s award-winning criminal drama "Breaking News" (Daai si gin).

 

Deals have been locked with Kinovista for France, IPA for Thailand and ETV for South Africa. Previously announced deals were with SHOWBOX for the UK, NEW SELECT for Japan, ECS for the Middle East, HORIZON for Turkey and BEIJING UNITED for China.

 

Also a world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in the Midnight section, the film is a co-production between Moscow based Tandem Pictures and Gothenburg's Illusion Film with support from the Swedish regional fund Film I Vast.

 

NEWSMAKERS is currently touring Germany in the Fantasy Filmfest while Cinemavault plans to release in Canada later this year.