Sharon Stone has signed on tostar in Ryan Eslinger's When A Man Falls In The Forest, one of 18projects by young filmmakers beingshowcased in the inaugural Cannes sidebar L'Atelier du Festival.

"I think that Ryan Eslingeris enormously talented and I look forward to our collaboration," Stone said ina statement.

The star added her name to the project after she saw Eslinger's first picture, the 2003 drama Madness AndGenius that won the Feature Film Prize in Science and Technology at theHamptons International Film Festival.

When A Man Falls In AForest concerns three lonely men whose lives intersect, and was originally part of the 2004 Sundance Filmmakers Lab.

L'Atelier du Festivalshowcases unfunded projects by promising directors and provides a forum in which they can network with producers in the hope of securing production financing.