Bim, Valerio De Paolis's Rome distribution outfit, has added Alain Resnais's upcoming musical Pas Sur La Bouche to its impressive international production slate, and has also decided to start producing Italian pictures for the first time.

Pas Sur La Bouche is Resnais's first directorial effort in five years. The farcical love triangle's script is an adaptation of an operetta originally written by Andre Barde and Maurice Yvain and first produced in 1925. The script was adapted by Resnais himself and is scheduled for release in France in late 2003.

Tilde Corsi's R & C Produzioni, the company behind Ferzan Ozpetek's current box office hit Facing Windows, is also backing the movie, which is produced by Bruno Pesery for Arena Films.

Bim's production slate also includes Triple Agent, Eric Rohmer's spy story which is set at the beginning of the second world war, and Ken Loach's Ae Fond Kiss, which Donatella Botti's Bianca Film has also joined as part of the Italian contingent backing the film.

In the meantime, De Paolis has also decided to get involved in local productions for the first time. He is co-producing a new film from Francesca Comencini (Carlo Giuliani, Ragazzo) which stars Nicoletta Braschi (Pinocchio). Named Mobbing, the movie starts shooting this month and will focus on sexual harassment in the workplace. Bianca film is co-producing.

De Paolis says one of the reasons for his involvement in local production is a new Italian law under which an Italian producer can now board two international productions as a minority co-producer if he produces at least one Italian movie per year.

"But I would like to become more involved in Italian cinema anyway, because there really is a new vitality of the local market."

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