Hamori teams with Brightlight for five films

AndrasHamori's LA-based H2O Motion Pictures is teaming with Vancouver-basedBrightlight Pictures in a $50m, five-picture international coproduction slateto be filmed over the next three years.

The slateincludes a starring role for Samuel L. Jackson and long-gestating project WhiteClouds, the lastscreenplay of late British dramatist Dennis Potter, which moved from the BBC to Alliance Atlantis and thenfollowed Hamori with his departure from the Canadian company.

The projects, inorder of scheduled production are:

- Peachland, written by Montreal scriptwriter KateSchlemmer, scheduled to shoot the winter of 2003, in Peachland, BC with MariaRipoll (Tortilla Soup)directing. ThinkFilm will distribute in Canada.

- People WhoKnock, with LynneStopkewich attached to direct an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novelPeople Who Knock On The Door from a screenplay by Doug Taylor. The picture isslated to shoot in the spring of 2004 in BC with Alliance Atlantis and BBCFilms co-producing.

- RunningWild, an adaptation ofthe J.G. Ballard novel penned by David Leland and starring Samuel L. Jackson,both of whom collaborated with H2O on the crime comedy Formula 51. Jackson will play a forensicpsychiatrist tracking foul play on a remote Pacific Northwest island. AllianceAtlantis, where Hamori developed the property, will coproduce and shooting isscheduled for Summer 2004.

- WhiteClouds, set up as aCanada-Italy co-production to shoot in Italy in 2004, is a dark comedy based onthe best-selling novel Cara Massimina by Tim Parks. The project was originallywith BBC Films with Jude Law attached.

- WithPrejudice, from thescreenplay by Michael Stokes based on a New Yorker magazine article by TadFriend, tells the story of two obsessives trying to uncover a crime that may ormay not have been committed. Shooting is planned for Autumn 2004 in Vancouverwith Pathe is looking to handle international rights.

Brightlight,headed by Steven Hegyes and Shawn Williamson, is one of the most activeproduction companies in western Canada, specialising in independent and serviceproduction. The company, whose credits include Try Seventeen starring Elijah Wood, and BruceSweeney's Last Wedding, is currently shooting Alone In The Dark, based on the Atari video game.