Passing the reins of Zentropa Internationale to Kaare Schmidt, the producer duo Ole Sondberg and Lars Sund Duus have left Zentropa to set up projects via their own outfit Early Bird. Zentropa Internationale is the international arm of Denmark's progressive production outfit and was set up one and a half year ago.

Among the projects set up by Sondberg and Duus are the English-language thrillers known as Zentropa Zhillers, which attracted financing from USA Films, Studio Canal and Concorde Films.

Kaare Schmidt, a former buyer for Canal+ and TV2/Denmark, who was attached to the Zhillers projects as script editor, will now serve as head of development. He will continue to work on Zhillers scripts as the only employee in the branch.

The other projects in Zentropa Internationale, Niels Arden's The Last Born, Susanne Bier's Through A Glass Darkly and Lone Scherfig's Moments Of Clarity, has been passed on to other producers in the Zentropa empire.

The three films are part of a distribution deal between Zentropa, Fine Line Features, Instituto Luce and Leo Pescarolo.

Ole Sondberg and Lars Sund Duus, who set up Early Bird after leaving now-defunct Victoria Film and before coming to Zentropa, will focus entirely on their own line-up of projects, targeting development and financing of new projects.