Italian sales agent Adriana Chiesa has established a new production company and is already underway on their first project.

The new outfit, titled ACEK, will be involved in production, marketing and communication. Chiesa is the main shareholder.

ACEK first production will be a documentary about the life of Chiesa’s late husband, cinematographer Carlo Di Palma.

The film, titled Water And Sugar: Carlo Di Palma, The Colours Of Life, is directed by Fariborz Kamkari and features admirers and collaborators such as Woody Allen, Ken Loach and Wim Wenders.

The documentary will tell the story of the celebrated Italian cinematographer who worked on many of the classics of Italian neo-realist cinema (Bicycle Thieves and Rome, Open City among them), shot Michelangelo Antonioni’s Red Desert and went on to shoot several films for Woody Allen.

Directed by Fariborz Kamkari, ACEK aims to complete the film for Cannes 2014.

The new company also has a second feature, Pizza And Dates, also directed by Kamikari that tells the story of Muslim leader Saladin and how he was seduced by “by the sensuous spell of Venice”.

International distribution arm Adriana Chiesa Enterprises will continue selling as before but will pick up fewer films.

At the EFM, the distributor is selling Giuseppe Bonito’s Pulce Is Not Here and Giuliano Gemma: An Italian In The World, a doc about the cult spaghetti western star.