In the first sign of TIFF market action, Roadside Attractions and Liddell Entertainment have scooped the U.S. rights to Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Biutiful ahead of its North American bow in Toronto. Maple Pictures, Roadside’s Canadian partner, will release the Spanish language dramedy here.

Roadside for weeks has been circling Biutiful, which earned Javier Bardem a best actor trophy in Cannes, so the late entry by Liddell Entertainment is a surprise.

Roadside plans a December theatrical release stateside for the latest picture from González Iñárritu following his 2006 Oscar win for Babel.

Before that, Toronto plans two public screenings for Biutiful on the first Friday and Saturday of its upcoming 35th edition.

In Biutiful, Bardem plays a conflicted man struggling to reconcile fatherhood, family and love in the dangerous underworld of modern Barcelona.

Roadside co-president Howard Cohen and Mickey Liddell of Liddell Entertainment hammered out the distribution deal with CAA, which represented the filmmakers, Mod Producciones. Focus Features International is the international sales agent.

Biutiful is based on a story by González Iñárritu, who also wrote the movie script with Armando Bo and Nicolás Giacobone. The film also stars newcomers Marciel Alvarez and Diaryatou Daff.

The producer credits are shared by González Iñárritu, Jon Kilik and Fernando Bovaira.