Independent French production label Aeternam Films unveiled a raft of art-house pictures produced by some of the world's edgiest talents.

The company, headed by Francesca Feder, will co-produce The Moon Also Rises, the next picture by Lin Cheng-Sheng, whose Robinson's Crusoe appeared in Cannes competition last week.

The drama focuses on a mother and daughter relationship in China and may star Yang Kuei-mei, star of Robinson's Crusoe. The picture, which will shoot in early 2004, is structured as a co-production with Taiwan and long-time Tsai Ming-liang associate Vincent Wong.

Feder is also co-producing Spider Forest, a spiritual thriller by Song Il-Gon, the Korean director with whom she produced Flower Island. That film won the Avventura prize at Venice 2001 and went on, in a re-cut version, to scoop the top three prizes at Pusan the same year.

Spider Forest, focuses on the moment between life and death and the journey of the human soul. Set to shoot in the autumn this year it is structured as a co-production between Aeternam, Song's Myfilm and sales and finance outfit Cineclick Asia.

With hot Argentinian director Santiago Loza, who previously directed Rotterdam VPRO Tiger-winner Extrano, Aeternam is co-producing Empty Flat (Habitaciones Vacias). The $500,000 film is a "dramatic comedy" about four women dealing with different crises, sharing each other's lives and apartments. Shooting is set to begin in December.

In April or May next year production gets underway on The Broadway Of Fejos, a musical comedy that marks the conventional feature debut of Deco Dawson, a renowned Canadian video artist who has directed a number of short and mid-length films and acted as editor of four features. The film is a Franco-Canadian co-production between Aeternam and Canada's Critical Madness. A sales company is to be brought on board in the coming weeks.

"We like to take bets on good international directors who have yet to fully make their mark on the festival circuits or buyers' radars," said Feder. "We take a co-producer role, albeit a pretty active one in most cases, and can access money from a range of European sources. We like to bring post-production to Europe where we can, in order to ensure a quality finish."

The company also has a smaller slate of wholly French pictures on which it takes a full producer credit. Current titles include Christophe Lamotte's 17 Ans, Helene Marini's Les Affames and Francois Vautier's Antoine.

Topics