UK productions Blood and Postman Pat: The Movie - You Know You’re The One, as well as French feature Ipu - Convicted To Live are among Screenbase’s highlights this week.

Nick Murphy will commence shooting the thriller Blood early next year, which is based on Bill Gallagher adaptation of his own BAFTA-nominated TV series Conviction. The story centres on two policemen who kill a murder suspect and are then plunged into chaos when they are forced to investigate their own crime. Brian Cox, Paul Bettany and Stephen Graham have been lined up to star in this Neal Street production, which received financial backing from BBC Films and the British Film Institute (BFI).

Production has already started on Mike Disa’s Postman Pat: The Movie - You Know You’re The One with David Tennant, Jim Broadbent, Rupert Grint and Stephen Mangan heading up the voice cast. In this Classic Media and Rubicon Group Holding (RGH) big screen adaptation Postman Pat enters a national TV talent show competition that threatens to tear him away from his hometown of Greendale. The screenplay was written by the production team behind the TV series, Kim Fuller and Annika Bluhm. Timeless Films acquired international rights and Icon will release the animation in the UK and Ireland.

Currently shooting across Romania is Ipu - Convicted To Live, starring Gerard Depardieu, Laura Morante and Harvey Keitel among others. Bogdan Dreyer is in the director’s chair and also co-wrote the screenplay with Anusavan Salamanian, which is based on the novella by Titus Popovici. The film is set in Transylvania during the Second World War and centres on a group of German soldiers that threaten to shoot ten villagers if the small community does not turn in the killer of a fellow German soldier.  Daniel Zuta Filmproduktion and Family Film Production are jointly producing, with Shoreline Entertainment  holding worldwide rights.