EXCLUSIVE: FilmNation has begun talks at the AFM on the upcoming untitled Woody Allen project, one of several new titles to emerge on the eve of the market.

Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone star in the story that Allen shot on the east coast over the summer about an angst-ridden philosophy professor who starts an affair with a student.

Thus far no US distributor is attached although regular Allen distributor Sony Pictures Classics must be regarded as the front-runner.

Meanwhile, buyers are also buzzing about Retribution, which marks the reunion of Al Pacino and Brian De Palma for the first time since Carlito’s Way in 1993. The pair had previously collaborated a decade earlier on Scarface.

Relativity International is understood to be in early talks with acquisitions executives on the story of a hitman and a cop who will go to any length to stop a Philadelphia child prostitution ring.

The project is based on the 2003 Belgian thriller The Memory Of A Killer. Neither FilmNation nor Relativity International could be reached to confirm the additions to their slates.

Meanwhile anticipation was high over a possible AFM visit by Quentin Tarantino on November 6. The Weinstein Company is kicking off its sales push on the director’s Western, The Hateful Eight, and there has been talk among buyers of a personal appearance.

Voltage Pictures has come on to handle worldwide sales on Return To Sender, the psychological thriller starring Gone Girl’s Rosamund Pike, Shiloh Fernandez, Nick Nolte, Camryn Manheim and Rumor Willis.

Pike pays the victim of a home invasion who forms a strong bond with her imprisoned assailant. Fouad Mikati directs from a screenplay by Patricia Beauchamp and Joe Gosset. Candice Abela and Holly Wiersma produce.