Sogepaq's buyers screening of the new Alejandro Amenabar film, "Mar Adentro" (Out to Sea) has some New York based buyers fuming. The film, expected to screen at the Venice fest before debuting theatrically in Spain in early September, was apparently shown only to a select roster of execs this morning at the MGM screening room; many other buyers were excluded.

"I've been doing this for quite some time and I can't recall ever being asked not to come to a screening," one buyer told me today. Why Sogepaq would limit access to the film is unclear, as one film seller told me, they only stand to lose out if or when they don't get the desired offer from the select group of invitees and then take the film to a wider list of would-be buyers.

The movie, which stars Javier Bardem, was screened for Lions Gate, Fine Line, Warner Independent, Fine Line, IFC, Sony Classics, Miramax and Newmarket, according to a buyer who was not invited. Among those left out, according to the buyer, were UA, THINKFilm, Magnolia, Zeitgeist, Wellspring, Samuel Goldwyn and Roadside.