22/02/2006

Film & Music Entertainment (F&ME), one of the most active co-producers of European films in the UK, has five new minority co-productions set to shoot between March and August 2006.

Bathory is a Czech/Slovakian/Hungarian/UK co-production in which Famke Janssen will play the so-called Blood Countess of 17th century Hungary. The film will focus on her struggle to defend her name and family honour against her many enemies. Directed and produced by Slovakian filmmaker Juraj Jakubisko, the epic film will start shooting next month.

Established Slovenian director Damian Kozole – who made his name with the 2003 film Spare Parts, about a Slovenian people smuggler – once again focuses on the European slave trade in The Dark Side of the Earth, the story of Diana, a Bulgarian prostitute sold from “owner” to “owner” from her native country to Slovenia and Italy. The drama is being co-produced by Vertigo Films.

Mirror Maze is a new Spanish film by Guillermo Fernando Groizard, produced by Rioja Audiovisual, Producciones 52, Ensueno Films and DeAPlaneta PC. The thriller tells the story of a married biochemist with a son who leads an ordinary life until one night he sees a man identical to himself get killed in a car accident.

The Quest For a Heart is a Finnish animated film based on the popular ‘Rolli’ characters. Finland’s top production company MRP Matila Röhr is behind the project, having previously backed the live-action film Rolli, which pulled in over 340,000 admissions in Finland. This new project is also being backed by Producers Center Kontakt and Greenlight Media AG, and will be directed by Pekka Lehtosaari, who has a long history as an animation dubbing director for Disney.

F&ME, headed by Mike Downey and Sam Taylor, is also co-producing the UK/Canadian docudrama White Lightin’, to be directed by Dominic Murphy.