Acclaimed Argentiniandirector Lucrecia Martel is set to shoot her third film La Mujer Sin Cabeza (The Headless Woman) next March.

Lita Stantic Produccioneswill finance the $2m film in co-production with Pedro and Agustin Almodovar'sEl Deseo in Spain and the support of the National Film Institute (Argentina).Both Stantic and El Deseo were involved in Martel's Cannes 2004 competitionentry The Holy Girl.

"We are still in talkswith other European companies to secure the budget," says Stantic, who iscurrently co-producing the tango documentary Cafe De Los Maestros with Brazil's Walter Salles and Oscar-winningArgentinian composer Gustavo Santaolalla.

"It's a psychologicalthriller about a woman who kills a dog on the highway and from that moment onfails to recognize both the people who approach her and their intentions,"explains Martel, who wrote the original screenplay and is currently casting thefilm in Buenos Aires.

The Headless Woman will be entirely shot in Salta, Martel's hometownnear the northern border with Bolivia, where she has set both La Cienaga and The Holy Girl.

Talented cinematographerCobi Migliora (Pablo Trapero's Crane World, Lisandro Alonso's La Libertad) will collaborate with Martel for the first time on the film.