Rai Cinema has boardedOscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores's next film, a $25.5m (Euros20m) English-language drama about a ship's last voyage.

The film, with a workingtitle is Naima, is written byUmberto Contarello and Salvatores, who won a best foreign language Oscar for Mediterraneo.

Naima is a romantic adventure drama about an Irish shipcaptain and his assistant, who sail back from India to Ireland. It is inspiredby the true story of an Indian beach where old ships lie abandoned.

The picture is produced bySalvatores's long-time associate, Maurizio Totti's Colorado Film. It is plannedas an international co-production and is expected to start shooting around May2007.

Meanwhile, Colorado and RaiCinema are also lining up a $2.5m (Euros 2m) noir film entitled UnGioco da Ragazze.

Adapted from a book byAndrea Cotti, the film is a crime story that focuses on three teenagegirls. The script is written by Sandro Dazieri, Laura Chirsone and AndreaCotti.

It will be released in Italyby 01 Distribution this autumn.

Totti is also developing a three-hourdrama about the late Italian cycling champion Marco Pantani. The film, called UnUomo in Fuga, is planned as amini-series and is based on a book by Pantani's manager, Manuela Ronchi.

It will go into productionin September or October 2006.

Other Colorado projects indevelopment include a series of six half-hour films based on Salvatores's lastfeature, Quo Vadis. Salvatoreswill be the artistic director on the series.