Paul Pavlikovsky, the acclaimed director of 2000's Last Resort, is re-teaming with BBC Films on coming-of-age-tale This Summer Of Love.

Pavlikovsky is working on the script, which tells the story of two adolescent girls from different classes and what happens when a dangerous man enters their lives.

The BBC, which has The Mother in Directors Fortnight, is lining up Sarah Gavron's The Chosen Ones, which deals with the fertile ground of asylum seekers in England, this time through the experience of their children. Also in the running to shoot this year is Saul Dibb's Bullet Boy, a drama about a young black boy who hides a gun for his brother which has support body the Film Council on board.

Francesca Joseph, whose BBC title Tomorrow La Scala! played in Cannes last year, is readying Four Last Songs, a story about a Mediterranean island whose multinational inhabitants are under the spell of a famous local composer.

BBC Films is also developing a feature film version of Joseph's reality TV phenomenon about hapless learner drivers, Driving School, with Joseph on board.

BBC Films' drive into larger scale films sees the broadcaster's film arm backing projects including HBO Films' The Life And Death of Peter Sellers, Norman Jewison's The Statement, Traffic producer Laura Bickford's RX, about the pharmaceutical industry, and Martin Campbell's Edge Of Darkness.

"We are continuing backing new talent, as well as encouraging a crossover from TV to film," said David Thompson, head of BBC Films. "At the same time, we want films with bigger emotions...compared with the slightly tight-assed drama associated with British films."

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