UK production outfit Spice Factory has optioned the rights to The Forgotten Games, an original screenplay by David Ondaatje based on the true story of the British Olympic ice hockey team's controversial participation in the 1936 Winter Olympics in Nazi Germany.

Ondaatje also plans to direct the film which is set to start shooting in Canada, UK and Germany in the fourth quarter 2003. Andrew Herwitz of The Film Sales Company brokered the deal for the project; Ondaatje is represented by Josh Donen at CAA and Scott Edel at Kleinberg Lopez Cuddy & Edel.

Spice Factory's recent films include Plots With A View starring Brenda Blethyn, Alfred Molina, Naomi Watts and Christopher Walken and Bollywood Queen which is world premiering in the World Cinema section of this week's Sundance Film Festival.