Italy's Istituto Luce is beefing up its internationalproduction slate with several high-profile co-productions, including AbelFerrara's Go Go Tales and Brad Mirman's The Shadow Dancer withHarvey Keitel and Giancarlo Giannini.

French production outfit, Euro American, has boarded GoGo Tales, a Euros 5m comedy set in a night-club, which is being produced byIstituto Luce together with Rome-based Gerardo Pagliei's Gam Films and AndreaDe Liberato's Poetiche Cinematografiche. Luce is also in advanced talks with aUK co-production partner. The film's eight-week shoot is due to kick off inRome in May, with Harvey Keitel, Naomi Campbell, Eva Herzigova and Anna Falchiin lead roles.

Keitel is also starring in Luce's The Shadow Dancer,a Euros 8m drama about a young New York editor who travels to Tuscany to tryand persuade a reclusive writer to get back to work. Directed and written by USscreenwriter Brad Mirman (Crime Spree, Highlander III), The ShadowDancer starts shooting in Tuscany for 10 weeks on April 30, with a castthat includes Giancarlo Giannini, Dawson's Creek's Joshua Jackson andClaire Forlani (Meet Joe Black).

Produced by Massimo Pacilio of Rome-based outfit Movieweband Istituto Luce, the picture has been set up as a co-production with the UK'sStudio Eight and France's Closeup Films.

Istituto Luce's current production slate also includesMichael Radford's $30m UK-It-Lux co-production, The Merchant Of Venice,which stars Joseph Fiennes, Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons, as well as Mick Davis's$12m biopic Modigliani, a US-Italian-German co-production which seesAndy Garcia star as the famous artist alongside Elsa Zylberstein and OmidDjalili (Spy Game) in the role of Pablo Picasso.

Both the Merchant Of Venice and Modigliani arecurrently in post-production.

Istituto Luce is also developing three Italian films,including Pasquale Scimeca (Placido Rizzotto)'s Euros 8m picture LaPassione di Giosue' L'Ebreo, which recounts the period in the 15th centurywhen a royal edict forced thousands of persecuted Jews to leave Spain. The filmis expected to start shooting in September in Spain and Sicily with acclaimedtheatre actor Toni Servillo, who also stars in Cannes competition title LeConseguenze dell'Amore by Paolo Sorrentino.

Headed by Andrea Piersanti and Luciano Sovena, Istituto Luceis a state-owned distribution, exhibition and production outfit. The company isalso the Italian co-producer behind Cannes competition titles 2046 byWong Kar Wai, which it co-produced with Amedeo Pagani's Classic Films, andApitchapong Weerasethakul's Tropical Malady.

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