Spanish sales and production house Bulbeck & Mas, co-producer of Un Certain Regard entry Today And Tomorrow (Hoy Y Manana), is now prepping The Silence Of The Sirens (El Silencio De Las Sirenas) from director Cecilia Bartolome.

The magical love story set between two centuries is a Euro 2.4m co-production with Spanish outfits Freedonia Producciones and Verite de Cinematografia. Bulbeck & Mas co-principal Gillian Bulbeck says negotiations are underway to bring a French and Italian co-producer on board, making the film eligible for Eurimages funds.

Bartolome's script, which received development funds from the MEDIA Programme, is adapted from an award-winning novel by Adelaida Garcia Morales, whose The South (El Sur) was made into a film in 1982 by director Victor Erice.

Sirens is planned for an October shoot between Madrid, Valencia and Asturias, Spain. Bulbeck & Mas have already secured pay-TV backing in Spain from Via Digital and are now negotiating free-to-air deals.

This will mark their third foray into production following Alejandro Chomski's Today And Tomorrow, picked up by Wild Bunch prior to Cannes, and Juan Bautista Stagnaro's The Seventh Archangel (El Septimo Arcangel), pending release. Among other projects in development is Chomski's follow-up LA On Bike.