New films by Get Real director Simon Shore and Icelandic maestro Fridrik Thor Fridriksson head the debut slate of F.&.M.E. (UK), the new British outpost of German group F.A.M.E.

F.&.M.E. (UK), which is managed by Mike Downey and production head Sam Taylor, has unveiled a line-up of five new features it has originated and three which it has boarded as co-producer.

The outfit is to focus on contemporary genres, drama, thrillers and horror, and will call on established and upcoming talent.

Shore's Cassandra At The Wedding, previously set up at Anant Singh's Distant Horizon, is likely to be the first into production, although the company will not commit to a start date until the SAG strike situation is clarified. The picture is a comedy-drama about identical twins and is written by Diamond Geezers screenwriter Peter Milligan.

Other pictures on the new line-up include: Sam, a thriller about a boy with telekinetic powers, written by two-time BAFTA-winner Steve Attridge; Sensation, a satire about a pop star's sudden disappearance, written by John Stanley; No Man's Land, a supernatural chiller set in the WWI trenches; and the psychological thriller The Enemy, also written by Milligan.

Said Downey: We are now in an intensive development and financing phase and would envisage the first films to go into production in autumn of this year." Budgets are all set in the $5m-$8m range.

Fridriksson's English-language debut Falcons (Falkar) is set to shoot this summer and is produced with the Icelandic Film Corporation, Peter Rommel Productions of Germany and Norway's Filmhuset.

Among the co-productions is Killing Is My Business, Honey, an English-language contract killer comedy directed by Sebastian Neimann now in pre-production. The picture is co-produced with Germany's Indigo Filmproduktion and backed by Apollo Medien and the Bavarian Film Subsidy Board.

The Balkan war-set romantic comedy Loving Glancesis directed by Srdjan Karanovic and co-produced with France's Raphael Films and Slovenia's Casablanca. Financing is from the Slovenian and Macedonian Ministries of Culture and the European Co-production Fund.

The company is also in post-production on two other pictures - Czech drama Josephine and Cyprus-set Under The Stars - that were originated under Downey and Wood's previous production banners, respectively Bridie Films and Mass Production.

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