• Zeitgeist Films beat the competition to the EyeSteelFilm/National Film Board doc Up the Yangtze! on the eve of its premiere at Sundance. The doc, focusing on the changing natural and social landscape of China, is scheduled for domestic release in April.

• Anchor Bay Entertainment has plucked the Ottawa-produced feature Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer, signing the horror-comedy at the close of Slamdance. According to a statement, Anchor Bay dropped in the ‘mid-six figures’ for the domestic rights to the feature, plus a theatrical commitment.

• Portfolio Entertainment will share its Animal Miracles with audiences in Europe and the Mediterranean. The hour-long factual series has been picked up by Erika C&T in Italy, while Zonemedia Broadcasting takes it to Europe, including France, Germany and Spain, the Middle East and Africa.

• Peter Mohan’s new series Bodies and Soul has been picked up by The Nightingale Company. Mohan (Due South, Blood Ties) will write and exec produce the new dramedy with TNC’s Debbie Nightingale.

• The action-adventure Johnny Test will soon hit Brazilian TV screens thanks to a new deal reached between Cookie Jar Entertainment and Rede Record. The series, which was previously licensed to Cartoon Network and Boomerang Latin America, will hit the air in Brazil later this year.

• Distraction has taken the concept for The Next Great Prime Minister overseas. The BBC has optioned the series’ format, and will air it in the U.K. as The Next Great Leader, according to the CBC and its London-based distributor. Separate deals were also reached to bring the format to Italy, South Africa, Spain and the Netherlands.

• Toronto’s 9 Story Entertainment has gone global with several deals for the aptly titled animated special If the World Were a Village. The half-hour world issues program was picked up by networks and distributors in Brazil, Singapore, Portugal, Israel and the Middle East and domestically by Visual Education Centre and Fire the Imagination.

• Nelvana Enterprises has put some of its many children’s programs on the web, thanks to a VOD deal with ReelTime.com. Nelvana toons now showing on the site include Jacob Two-Two, My Dad the Rock Star, Ned’s Newt, Tales from the Cryptkeeper and more.

• The rights to Nova Scotia author Joan Clark’s novel The Hand of Robin Squires were snagged by 9 Story Entertainment for treatment. Peter Moss (Arthur, Caillou) is currently nurturing the treasure-hunt script through early development.

• Decode Enterprises, the distribution arm of DHX Media, is continuing to expand its third-party sales slate with its first factual entertainment acquisition. Decode has acquired worldwide TV rights to marblemedia’s The Adrenaline Project. The series, which currently airs here on YTV and on 4Kids TV on Fox in the U.S., pits teens against each other in a series of high-octane elimination contests in everything from mountain biking to bungee jumping.