Former Egoli TossellFilm executive Oliver Damian has set up his own production outfit 27 FilmsProduction to develop and produce international co-productions, with aparticular focus on projects from Eastern Europe and Asia.

Among 27 Films' first projects are Oscar-nominated Georgian directorNana Djordjadze's fantasy comedy The Rainbow Maker; Sidewayscinematographer Phedon Papamichael'sdirectorial debut Nono;and Goran Rebic's Franzuski, apoetic-comic drama set on the prison island of Sakhalin in the 1960s.

In addition, Damian will serve as a minority partner on majorinternational co-productions. The first projects lined up for 27 Films'involvement include the new project by Italy's Tavianibrothers The Lark Farm about genocidein Armenia with Germany's Moritz Bleibtreu in one ofthe lead roles; the agent thriller Ku,structured as a UK-French-German co-production with Christian Slater in one ofthe leads; and the historical drama TheSword Of Peter about the life and struggle of Apostle Peter against theRoman rulers.

During his time at Egoli TossellFilm, Damian had served as Head of Production overseeing the making of suchfilms as Djordjadze's 27 Missing Kisses (the inspiration for his company's name),Alexander Sokurov's Russian Ark, Tatiana Brandrup's Georgisches Liebeslied orWillem van de Sande Bakhuyzen'schildren's film Lepel.

Damian has also stepped down from his position as board member of thedistributor Timebandits Films.