Sony Pictures Classics will be mailing Merry Christmas cards later this year having snapped up U.S., Italian, U.K. and South America rights for a mid-seven-figure sum for Out of Competition entry from Gallic sales outfit Films Distribution. Directed and written by Christian Carion, the film has been one of the standouts of the festival thus far, drawing a 10-minute standing ovation at its gala screening Monday. The movie recounts the famous World War I ceasefire at Christmas 1914, when Scottish, French and German troops laid down their weapons and sang carols, shared a drink and played a football match in No Man's Land.

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