Hot young Italian director Edoardo Winspeare has started shooting The Miracle, his next picture after Live Blood, the quirky southern Italian drama which screened at Sundance in 2001.

Produced, like his first two pictures, by Maurizio Tini's Rome outfit, Sidecar Films and TV, Winspeare's new film revolves around an 11-year-old boy who convinces himself he has supernatural powers. The film focuses on the boy's relationship with his father and a 17-year-old girl he saves from a nasty fate.

Tini has already pre-sold French rights on the Euros 3m picture to Francois Cohen-Seat's outfit, Les Films du Centaure. Italian rights have been picked up by 01 Distribution, the one-year-old label formed by StudioCanal and Rai Cinema. The Italian mini-major is also co-producing with a 20% stake in the film.

Written by Live Blood's Giorgia Cecere and Pierpaolo Pirone, The Miracle features both stage and non-professional actors. It is being shot in the Puglian town of Taranto in Italian, unlike Winspeare's previous film, which was filmed in a southern dialect and subtitled for Italian audiences. Both Live Blood and Winspeare's debut film, Pizzicata, became cult favourites in Italy.