Run Lola Run starFranka Potente, who is a member of the International Jury at this year'sBerlinale, is to make her directorial debut this spring with a 25-30-minuteshort film.

Producer Stefan Arndt of X-Filme creative pool told ScreenDaily.com that Wer Die Tollkirsche Ausgraebt will be 'a really classical silent film likefrom the beginning of the last century except for a little surprise at the endwhen a time traveller arrives in the film.'

Arndt revealed that the screenplay was being translated intoEnglish to attract acting talent from outside of Germany and the plan was toclose the financing during the Berlinale.

Tom Tykwer's 'regular' director of photographyFrank Griebe 'and the old circle of friends behind the camera' areattached for the shoot which is planned for April-May.

In addition, X-Filme is in pre-production on Love Life(Liebesleben), based on the 1997international best-selling novel of the same name by Zeruya Shalev centring onthe stormy relationship between a young woman and a man twice her age. Thiswill be the first solo directorial effort by actress Maria Schrader (Rosenstrasse,Snowland).

According to Arndt, theEnglish-language film will be co-produced with Marek Rosenbaum's Transfax Filmat locations in Israel and North Rhine-Westphalia and has already receivedbacking from the German Federal Film Board (Euros 300,000) and Filmstiftung NRW(Euros 750,000). An application of support has also been made to the IsraelFilm Fund as part of the cooperation agreement with the Filmstiftung NRW)

X-Filme's Head of Business & Legal Affairs AndroSteinborn, who will be producing the film with Arndt, told ScreenDaily.com that the Berlin production house is itselforganising the pre-sales for this film.

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