An adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight‘s Children has been announced this week, as well as a host of other European co-productions including Le Sens De Nos Peines, What Use Is A Bear? (¿Para Qué Sirve Un Oso?) and Trap for Cinderella.

The tumultuous saga of twins born in 1947 on the cusp of Indian independence, who are able to communicate telepathically with others born at the same time, is at the centre of Salman Rushdie’s novel Midnight‘s Children, which Rushdie and Deepa Mehta are currently developing into a feature length film. Mehta will direct when filming starts in January 2011 on location in Sri Lanka.

David Hamilton produces this UK-Canada co-production, with Doug Mankoff, Andrew Spaulding, Steven Silver and Neil Tabatznik executive producing. The production will star Shabana Azmi, Soha Ali Khan, Irrfan Khan, Nandita Das and Seema Biswas. Film Nation is selling internationally, and the film has been picked up by UGC and eOne in France and the UK respectively.

In February shooting will kick off on Iain Softley’s thriller Trap for Cinderella about two women - one wealthy and the other poor – who are trapped inside a beach house in a French resort when it is gutted by fire; only one of them survives, but which one is it? Softley also wrote the script from the novel by Sébastien Japrisot, and he will co-produce the film with Robert Jones and Dixie Linde through Forthcoming Productions. Imogen Poots and Felicity Jones have been confirmed in the lead roles. International sales are handled by Metropolis International Sales.

Belgium-French co-production Le Sens De Nos Peines is currently shooting across the two countries. The story follows an imprisoned young woman who gives birth to her son while serving her sentence. Melanie Thierry will star in this drama by Entre Chien Et Loup, Dibona Films and Arsam International. Stéphane Cazes is directing from his own script. The film received funding from both France and Belgium including Canal +, CNC (Centre National de la Cinématographie), CinéCinéma, Belgian French Community, GAN Cinema Foundation and Wallonie Bruxelles Images. Ocean Films will release across France.

Also currently shooting is What Use Is A Bear? (¿Para Qué Sirve Un Oso?) with Tom Fernández directing from his own screenplay. Emma Suarez, Geraldine Chaplin, Javier Cámara, Gonzalo de Castro and Oona Chaplin are among the cast in this comedy about two brothers from Asturias who have been nature lovers since childhood. Shooting is taking place in Spain and Iceland, with Spain producing through Versatil Cinema and Alta Films.

For more information on these films and many more new productions, visit our online production listings Screenbase.