Hot projects on Screenbase

France’s Bliss Production, Germany’s Film Base Berlin and India’s Nomad Productions have joined forces for Prashant Nair’s drama Umrika, which centres on an older brother abandoning his native Indian village for a bigger and better life in the US, leaving behind only a mysterious trail of letters. His younger brother must follow in his footsteps to find out what truly happened to his brother. Nair wrote the screenplay and will also produce alongside Jim Birmant of Bliss Production and Mathias Schwerbrock from Film Base Berlin. Shooting is scheduled for May next year.

James Corden will star in School for Santas, which follows a down-on-his luck dad who needs to find his inner Father Christmas to win back his kids. Richard Bean wrote the screenplay and Kris Thykier is producing the comedy for Working Title Films. Shooting is planned for next year in New York and London.

Also new on Screenbase: Steven Hall’s short story Stories for a Phone Book Page will be adapted by newly founded company SUMS Film and Media. Founders Bob Benton and Andy Brunskill are producing Phone Book, with Angus Wall directing. The thriller charts the intertwining of disparate characters whose lives converge after a series of mysterious events. The feature will see the characters’ stories accessed through a tablet or smart phone interface that will feed into and out of the feature. The film received funding from the BFI Film Fund.