Beyond The Sea, Kevin Spacey's story of legendary crooner Bobby Darin, is amongst the titles on the debut slate of Element X, the London-based international sales company set up by former FilmFour executives Janine Gold and Natalie Brenner.

Principal photography on the Anglo-German co-production starts in October in Europe. The film will be distributed in the US by Lions Gate and in the UK by Entertainment Film Distributors.

The production, originally set up with MDP Worldwide, boasts a cast including Kate Bosworth, Cathy Moriarty, John Goodman, Bob Hoskins and young American jazz star Peter Cincotti, who, in his first acting role, will play Darin's accompanist.

Spacey is directing as well as starring, and has recorded a number of Darin songs at Abbey Road studios in London for the soundtrack. The US actor, who developed the project through his company Trigger Street, will also produce with Arthur Friedman and Andy Paterson.

Element X is also handling worldwide sales excluding south-east Asia, Australasia and Japan on In My Father's Den, a New Zealand-UK character-driven mystery title. Currently shooting under writer-director Brad McGann, whose 1997 short Possum was a festival hit, the picture stars rising British actor Matthew Macfadyen as a disillusioned war journalist who is implicated in the disappearance of a teenage girl. Along with the New Zealand Film Commission and the UK Film Council, financing comes from UK tax-based fund Visionview, which has a non-exclusive pact with Element X.

The cast includes Miranda Otto and Whale Rider's Vicky Haughton, while T.H.E. Film's Trevor Haysom and Little Bird's Dixie Linder are producing. Optimum Releasing is to distribute the film in the UK and Icon will handle Australia and New Zealand.

Additionally, Element X is handling Man About Dog, a comedy caper which I Went Down director Paddy Breathnach is shooting in Ireland from a script by Pearse Elliott. The project is produced by Breathnach's partner in Treasure Entertainment, Rob Walpole, and Potboiler Films' Simon Channing-Williams. The young cast includes Alan Leech, Ciaran Nolan and Tom Murphy, along with veterans Sean McGinley and Fionnuala Flanagan. Redbus will distribute in the UK, with further backing coming from Visionview.

Completing the slate are Shane Meadows' untitled film starring Paddy Considine, which is in post-production, and Terence Davies' Sunset Song, an adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's classic Scottish novel which has UGC on board as the UK distributor.