New York-based Kinetic Arts is to produce a feature-length version of the award-winning Scottish short Leonard.

Written by Richard Smith and directed by Brian Kelly, the Stella Maris production tells of a lonely middle-aged man at the mercy of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and his reunion with a long lost son.

Starring Denis Lawson and Stewart Wilkinson, it received a world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in August 2001 and has subsequently been seen at numerous Festivals, winning the Special Audience Award at the 2002 Clermont-Ferrand event.

Chris Spanos and Alex Twersky of Kinetic Arts will produce a $3m-$5m feature version, which is currently in development with writer Richard Smith expanding the content of his original screenplay.

"The short script was a fantastic base to start from, allowing us to broaden the story and characters without straying from the original story and tone that attracted us in the first place," explains Spanos. "We're bringing in some additional characters plus going a bit deeper into Leonard's past and the OCD that handicaps him."

The story will be set in Scotland and America and it is hoped that Denis Lawson may reprise his role in the feature version which will shoot late 2003 or early 2004. Kinetic Arts are also planning an English-language feature version of the award-winning Danish short Feeding Desire.

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