Poland's Gutek Film and Switzerland's Monopol Pathe have already signed up for Lars von Trier's next project, Dogville, following the screening in Berlin of a five-minute film, shot last month to test the project's innovative concept.

Only the international backers of von Trier's last film, Dancer In The Dark, were invited to the screening held by Zentropa's Vibeke Windeloev and Peter Aalbaek Jensen. Most of Dancer's partners are expected to join Gutek and Monopol Pathe in boarding Dogville.

Von Trier is reportedly courting Nicole Kidman to star in the film, which like Dancer is a psychological drama set in the US, this time around in a small mountain village. The $3.8m (DKr30m) film will not feature any exteriors or special effects, and is to be entirely filmed on a soundstage, thus placing emphasis on the acting, lighting and sound.

Production on the film is scheduled to start in May in Sweden's Trollhattan studios for about six weeks. Sweden's Stellan Skarsgard recently confirmed that he has joined the cast, which will mostly comprise US and UK actors.

Meanwhile, Zentropa's Trust Film Sales has closed several more deals on hot Berlin competition title Italian For Beginners which Miramax grabbed for the US, Mexico and English-speaking Canada over the weekend (see separate story). The film has also been sold to Iceland's Good Times, Finland's Kamras Film, Norway's SEG and Colombia's Babilla Cine. SEG also bought Zentropa's Danish Academy Award winner The Bench from Trust, while Babilla Cine bought two Swedish comedies on Trust's slate, Jalla! Jalla! and Together.