Newfeature films by Benoit Jacquot and Christian de Chalonge are among four projects backed with a total of $1.4m(Euros 1.1m) by the German-French Funding Commission which is administered bythe German Federal Film Board (FFA) and France's CNC to promoteco-production between the two countries.

Thelargest sum - $339,754 (Euros 270,000) - went to de Chalonge'sLa Chambre d'Ami, the only German majority co-production, which willbe produced by Halle-based NFP Teleartwith Fidelbroc SA from BoulogneBillancourt.

Thethree French majority co-productions backed in this round of funding were:Benoit Jacquot's Capri 1934 (PyramideProductions/Integral Film); Marie Jaoul de Poncheville's Tengri (LFilms/Cine Dok Filmproduktion);and Abbas Fahdel's Dawn Of The World(Les Films du Requin/27 Films Production).

Lastweek, Fahdel's romantic drama set in Iraq under Saddam Husseinreceived $125,859 (Euros 100,000) production backing from MedienboardBerlin-Brandenburg, and will be handled internationally by RezoFilms.

PastFranco-German co-productions supported by the Funding Commission have includedTom Tykwer's Perfume:The Story Of A Murderer, Claude Chabrol's La Comedie Du Pouvoir,and Djamshed Usmonov's To Get To Heaven First You Have To Die,which had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard sidebar at Cannes this May.

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