Spanish producer Mate Productions has boarded Argentinean film Private Lives (Vidas Privadas) from first-time director and popular musician Fito Paez.

The film, a co-production with Paez's own Circo Beat, is set to star Cecilia Roth (All About My Mother), Gael Garcia Bernal (Amores Perros) and Hector Alterio (Plata Quemada).

Roth plays a woman who returns to Buenos Aires after a 20 year absence and, as a result of her affair with a younger man, is forced to face her traumatic past. The film begins shooting on March 19 on a $2m budget. Via Digital has pay TV rights in Spain.

Mate, an active co-production company based in Madrid, is also prepping director Maria Ripoll's English-language thriller Utopia with Alquimia Pictures and French co-production A Madhouse (Une Maison De Foux) for director Cedric Klapisch. The company is pending premieres on several films including Guillaume Depardieu-starrer Love, Curiosity, Prozac And Doubts (Amor, Curiosidad, Prozac Y Dudas).