French production company Noe Productions is developing an adaptation of Canadian novelist Nancy Houston's The Mark Of The Angel, set to star French actress Elsa Zylberstein, who optioned the novel.

Noe's president Frederique Dumas is currently in talks with US and UK partners to join the English-language project which the UK's Michael Radford has expressed interest in directing. Zylberstein's credits include Raoul Ruiz' Le Temps Retrouve and Combat D'Amour En Songe and English-language fare such as Jefferson In Paris and Metroland.

The French outfit is also developing Julia, the English-language debut of French director Erick Zonca and his second film after the award-winning The Dreamlife Of Angels. Zonca is co-writing the script with Aude Py.

Noe's English-language slate also includes the next film from Radu Mihaileanu after Train Of Life, Voyage To The Heart, adapted by Martin Sodowski from Marc Bohm's novel. The project is to shoot in Canada in summer 2001.

Noe has wrapped three high-profile productions in the last few months: Tom Tykwer's Heaven, co-produced with Miramax and Germany's X-Filme which is the first in a trilogy of films that had been planned by Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski before his death; Aktan Abdykalykov's The Monkey (Le Singe), co-written by Tonino Guerra and sold internationally by Wild Bunch; and Danis Tanovic's No Man's Land, a co-production with Belgium's Marion Hansel, Italy's Marco Mueller and the UK's Judy Counihan and Cat Villiers, which is being sold by UK-based The Sales Co.