Newprojects by UK film-maker Ben Hopkins,Serbia's Moma Mrdakovic andIsrael's DrorZahavi are among a raft of internationalco-productions backed by German regional film funds.

Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (MBB) and Leipzig-based MDM have both put productionsupport totalling $485,203 (Euros 380,000) into Hopkins' Turkish-language blackcomedy The Market, which will startshooting this summer in and around the cities of Van and Karsin the Eastern part of Turkey. It will be produced by 37 Uses For A Dead Sheep's Turkishproducer Ceyda Tufan of PiFilm with Roshanak Behesht Nedjad of Babelsberg-based FlyingMoon Filmproduktion.

Inaddition, MBB is backing Essential Filmproduktion'sproduction of video artist Shirin Neshat'sSommer 1953 with $357,518 (Euros 280,000).This feature debut focuses on the lives of four different women against thebackground of a coup d'etat by the British andAmerican governments directed against the first democratically elected Iranianprime-minister

Developmentfunding was also provided by MBB for a German-French-Romanian co-production bythe young Berlin production house Kinomaton with Cargo Films and Domino Film of Alice In Comradeland. Directed by Nae Caranfil, the film is inspired by the legendary bankrobbery in Romania in the 1950s.

Meanwhile,the Hamburg Film Fund has given $191,512 (Euros 150,000) each for Mrdakovic's love story Mamarosh, which is being producedby Rohfilm with partners from France, Hungary and Serbia, and for Zahavi's Israel-set drama Schabat Schalom Maradonnaas a co-production by Hamburg-based Relevant Film with an Israeli partner.

Twoother prestigious international projects were awarded production support fromthe Hamburg fund at its latest sitting: the German-Finnish-Danish-Irishanimation feature Way To The Stars,to be directed by Michael Negner and Kari Juusonen for Ulysses Filmproduktion,and Rolf Schuebel's Eleanor & Colette, which is set to star Susan Sarandon andHelena Bonham Carter opposite The LivesOf Others male lead Sebastian Koch.

Atthe same time, Bavaria's FilmFernsehFondsBayern (FFF Bayern) hasgranted more than $1.3m (Euros 1m) to five new projects.

Thelargest amount - $766,199 (Euros 600,000) - went to Pornorama, the follow-up projectfor Sophie Scholl director Marc Rothemund, about the early days of the German sex filmindustry in Munich at the end of the 1960s.Scripted by Granz Henman,Stephan Puchner and Bernd Eichinger,the comedy is set to star Benno Fuermann,Tom Schilling, Karoline Herfurthand Alexander Held.

Meanwhile,$383,114 (Euros 300,000) was awarded to Maggie Peren'sfeature directorial debut Stellungswechsel, which is being produced by Claussen + Woebke Filmproduktion and will be distributed in Germany by 20th Century Fox.