Deals and News

• Artistic License Films has acquired theatrical rights to director Pamela Tanner Boll's documentary "Who Does She Think She Is?" The film looks at the "mothering-versus-working choice" faced particularly by American women artists. (IndieWire)

• Balcony Releasing has announced its acquisition of the U.S. distribution of Abigail Disney and Gini Reticker's doc "Pray The Devil Back To Hell." The film, which was awarded Best Documentary Feature at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, tells the story of a small band of Liberian women who came together in the midst of a horrific civil war and successfully (and peacefully) took on the Charles Taylor regime. This Fork Films produced the film in association with Wide Angle 13/WNET. Balcony will release the film this fall. (Indiewire)

• Kimberly Johnson, writer of Benderspink's upcoming woman-in-peril screenplay "Curve," is set to pen another female-led thriller for Capacity Pictures. (HR)

• Hilary Swank's production company has picked up the rights to the best-seller "French Women Don't Get Fat," and the actress is eyeing the project as a potential starring vehicle. (HR)

• Natalie Portman's directorial debut will open the Venice International Film Festival's short-film sidebar. Portman's 17-minute "Eve," which Venice organizers called "a civilized comedy," stars Lauren Bacall and Ben Gazzara. It will screen in an out-of-competition slot. (HR)

• Mimi Leder will direct "Remember Their Names," a film about a young merchant marine's tour of duty in WWII alongside Woody Guthrie. (Variety)

• Sarah Jessica Parker's art competition reality show has found a home at Bravo. The show is a "Project Runway"-style competition series that takes on the art world. Aspiring artists compete to produce various styles of artwork (painting, sculpting, etc.), which is then judged by a panel of experts. (HR)