EXCLUSIVE: In a competitive situation on the eve of the European Film Market, A24 has swooped on North American rights to one of the hot indie pics that has just dropped at the market.

In a low-seven-figure deal, the blue-chip buyer has swooped on Claire Denis’ next movie, love story/thriller The Stars at Noon, which has her High-Life collaborator Robert Pattinson and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood breakout Margaret Qualley attached.

Set in 1984 during the Nicaraguan Revolution, the film follows a mysterious English businessman and headstrong American journalist who strike up a passionate romance. They soon become embroiled in a dangerous labyrinth of lies and conspiracies and are forced to try and escape the country, with only each other to trust and rely on.

The project is based on the 1986 novel by acclaimed U.S. writer Denis Johnson. Filmmaker Denis is adapting the novel with Lea Mysius and Andrew Litvack. It sounds like prime territory for the director after movies such as White Material and Beau Travail.

Wild Bunch is launching international sales on the project at the EFM, and buyers are already hot for the package. RT Features and Paris-based Curiosa Films are producing with an eye on shooting later this year. CAA Media Finance brokered domestic, which will include a solid theatrical commitment.

Pattinson is currently making Warner Bros’ The Batman. Denis is coming off sci-fi High Life, which was also bought by A24. Denis told us around the time of that movie how much she’d love to work with Pattinson again. A24 has previously bought a handful of Pattinson movies.

In-demand Fosse/Verdon Emmy-nominee Qualley stars in the Berlin Film Festival opener My Salinger Year and is also due to star in the buzzy EFM project A Head Full of Ghosts. The work of novelist Johnson has been adapted before to the big screen, most notably with Jesus’ Son in 1999.

Qualley is repped by UTA, Management 360 and Sloane, Offer. Pattinson is repped by WME, Curtis Brown, 3 Arts and Sloane, Offer.