Germany's KC Medien will co-finance French director Manuel Pradal's Ginostra, currently shooting in Italy with Harvey Keitel and Andie McDowell in the leads, as part of its informal producing partnership with France's StudioCanal.

The film, produced by Jean-Francois Fonlupt's Emotion Pictures and also backed by France 2 Cinema, is an English-language drama about a couple attempting to protect a teenager from the Mafia. Fonlupt is executive producing. Francesca Neri and Asia Argento also star.

Pradal's credits include the 1997 drama Marie Baie Des Anges about a young French prostitute and her relationships with an American soldier and a local criminal. Flach Pyramide handled sales on the film which was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics.

KC Medien previously worked with StudioCanal on Bertrand Tavernier's Laisser Passer, a co-production with Les Films Alain Sarde which stars Jacques Gamblin, Denis Podalydes and Marie Desgranges.

Meanwhile, the German fund has announced that it has added Peter Hewitt's Thunder Pants to the slate of projects that it is co-producing with Pathe under a three-year Euros250m financing arrangement unveiled last November. The comedy, which is currently in pre-production, is being produced by the UK's Dragon Pictures.

Previously announced projects under the KC Medien-Pathe deal include Eric Rohmer's The Lady And The Duke, Alain Chabat's Asterix & Cleopatra, Constantin Costa-Gavras' The Vicar, Stefan Schwarz's Abduction Club and Terry Gilliam's ill-fated The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which is officially on hold.