CANNES — Rock Salt Releasing has acquired world sales rights for South African director Harold Hölscher’s “8,” a horror film that plays on African folklore and mythology to tell a dark story of atonement.

Produced by Man Makes A Picture with Rolling Thunder, pic stars Tsamano Sebe (“Of Good Report”), Inge Beckmann (“Escape Room”), Garth Breytenbach (“Troy: Fall of a City”) and up-and-coming actor Keita Luna. It marks the feature directorial debut of Hölscher, who also wrote the script.

“8” tells the story of a man who moves his wife and adopted daughter into the country estate he inherited after his father’s suspicious death. When the daughter takes up an unlikely friendship with farmhand Lazarus, his sinister motives are slowly revealed, unleashing the dark secret of a demon child whose insatiable appetite can only be appeased by human souls.

Rock Salt Releasing will be screening “8” at the Cannes Film Market for buyers and programmers.

“I couldn’t be more excited to represent the film. It’s horrifying on a very primordial level and it features stories and folklore the West hasn’t seen yet,” said Rock Salt Releasing’s Daisy Hamilton.