Manchester-based producerPaul Sherwood's Storitel Films is to fully finance Arising, a new Britishhorror film marking the directorial debut of veteran TV director Bob Baldwin.

Scripted by Dan Spencer,Nick Ryan and Mark Barron, the film moves into production next month.

Also new on Storitel's slateis (Seymour's Adventures in) Bookworld, billed as a surreal, Monty Python-style adventure for kids and adults.Scripted by David Isaac, the film will mark the big-screen acting debut ofcomedian, Seymour Mace

Earlier this year, Storitelset up a new $1m development fund to back new British talent.

It is being advised onfuture projects by Moviehouse and Robbie Little's The Little Film Company.

Here in Cannes, Moviehouse is screening footageof Steen Agro's raucous Prague-set comedy, Shut Up And Shoot Me.

The film will receive its world premiere at nextmonth's UK London Film Focus.

Founded in 2003 by Sherwood,Storitel aims to develop and produce a broad range of feature films, accessingtalent by-passed by conventional UK financiers.

Its other titles indevelopment include Matt Dickinson's mountaineering thriller, Fragile Edge,Colin O'Donnell's spaghetti western-style thriller, Leona's Revenge, and AndyWalsh's Finishing School, a fantasy adventure about teenage girls at an elitefinishing school.