Top theatrical directors Bernardo Bertolucci, Nicolas Roeg, Jim Jarmusch, Chris Marker and Aki Kaurismaki have signed up to make a collection of short films that will be screened on the Internet by webcaster and short films boutique Atomfilms.

The quintet are the first of 15 leading directors committed to make the ten-minute films on the subject of time under the banner Ten Minutes Older.

Atomfilms is financing the films with German finance house MBP, Odyssey Television and Matador Pictures of the UK.

The films will begin to be shot in August and September of this year for delivery in Spring 2001. It has yet to be decided whether the films will premiere on the net, on TV or theatrically.

MBP's Rainer Mockert said: "This will be a compelling piece of entertainment which is a fusion of conventional technology and new media." "This is a fun and liberating project for our directors," said Nicolas McClintock of Odyssey TV.

  • Italian Oscar-winning director Bernardo Bertolucci is in talks with Mira Sorvino to star in Triumph Of Love, his wife Clare Peploe's next directorial project, which he will produce. The film will be an opportunity for Bertolucci to extend his current love-in with new technology. "I expect that this will be shot with HD24P cameras," he said. Bertolucci added that his next project as director will also make of digital cameras.