Senna director Asif Kapadia has signed on to direct love story Ali and Nino, which IM Global will begin sales on in Cannes.

Christopher Hampton’s adaptation of Kurban Said’s Azerbaijan-set novel charts the love affair between the male descendant of a royal Muslim family and a Christian, Georgian princess.

PeaPie founder Kris Thykier produces and Leyla Aliyeva will executive produce the project which is scheduled to go into production in early 2014.