French sales company Wide Management has acquired the global rights, excluding North America, to director Charles Officer’s film noir Akilla’s Escape.

Written by Officer and Wendy “Motion” Brathwaite, the feature – which previously made its world debut at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) – is set to be introduced by the company next week at UniFrance’s Rendez-vous with French Cinema.

Produced by the award-winning director and Jake Yanowski of Toronto’s Canesugar Filmworks with the participation of Telefilm Canada, CBC Films, Ontario Creates and CAVCO, the film starring singer, poet and actor Saul Williams (Slam) tracks the story of Akilla Brown, a man who captures a 15-year-old Jamaican boy in the aftermath of an armed robbery.

Executive producers on the project include Martin F. Katz, Karen Wookey, Michael A. Levine and Reservoir, while Tinu Sinha serves as supervising producer.

Of note, last year, the project, which weaves both the past and present into a crime-noir about the urban child-soldier, saw independent film distributor Vertical Entertainment acquire its U.S. distribution rights, while Toronto-based distributor levelFILM picked up its Canadian rights.

In addition to Williams, the feature stars Thamela Mpumlwana, Donisha Prendergast, Shomari Downer, Olunike Adeliyi, Ronnie Rowe Jr., Colm Feore, Bruce Ramsay and Vic Mensa.

Image of Akilla’s Escape courtesy of TIFF