French sales agency Versatile is to handle international distribution of “Dearest” Peter Chan’s Chinese child abduction story that appears in Venice and Toronto festivals, Variety said.

Versatile, which is headed by Pape Boye and Violaine Pichon, will handle sales of the picture outside Asia, where Chan’s own We Distribution retains all rights.

The film is based on real events which Chan uses to examine multiple layers of contemporary Chinese society.

Chan assembled a cast of top young rising actors including Zhao Wei, Tong Dawei, Huang Bo and Hao Lei.

The film is the first We Pictures production to be financed under a slate deal between Chan’s production label and the new Alibaba Pictures Group, an offshoot of the e-commerce giant. Other production credits go to Stellar Mega Films, J.Q. Pictures, Enlight Pictures, Shanghai Real Thing Media, HB Studio and Pulin Production.

The picture will be released in China on Sept. 26.