Golconda Films, the London-based production and financing company headed by Gregory Mackenzie and Brett Walsh, has recruited rising British actress Sienna Miller to star in its forthcoming dark comedy, Camille.

Harvey Keitel is also attached to the project, to be exec-produced by Charles Finch. The UK-Canadian co-production is in advanced development and is likely to shoot early next year. Mackenzie will direct

Miller, seen this weekend at the Venice Festival opposite Heath Ledger in Lasse Hallstrom's Casanova, is to play a young Kentuckian woman on the way to Niagara Falls with her fiance. En route, Camille is killed in a car accident. The fiance refuses to accept that she is dead and continues his journey with her corpse beside him.

Meanwhile, Golconda has announced it is starting a new "Section 41" development fund. The fund offers tax relief to investors who invest at the development stage of feature films. Golconda plans to start raising funds this month. The aim is to raise between £1.5 and £3m." The fund is targeted both at Golconda's in-house projects and those of third-party producers.

"We are going to be investing in latter-stage development. We'll look to come on board when there are already elements in place on a project," Walsh said. "We believe that from an investor's point of view, the risk to benefit profile is much more attractive investing in development than in investing in production finance. You can spread your risk around on many different projects."

Investors will recoup on the first day of principal photography and will also receive a "secondary kick" if a film performs well at the box-office.

Other titles on Golconda's development slate are Little Green Men, an adaptation of Christopher Buckley's satirical spoof on Washington DC political culture to which John Malkovich is attached, and Techinicolor Time Machine, a sci-fi comedy about Hollywood and time travel.