A total of $700m will be invested in construction and infrastructure at the US-based facility over its initial five year development plan.

Production and distribution outfit Medient Studios has revealed further details of the ambitious “Studioplex” that it is building in Effingham County, Georgia, in the US, where it will be able access the State’s generous tax credits.

$700m will be invested in construction and infrastructure at the facility over its initial five year development plan. Prime Focus is partnering on the “movie production campus”.

Chairman and founder Manu Kumaran said that Medient was developing “an assembly line” approach to filmmaking through the new facility.

Medient recently acquired German sales outfit Atlas International Film.

Among the projects Medient is currently backing – and Atlas is selling – is Kickback, a $12m thriller based on the life and death of crusading journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

John Cusack (as a Russian police officer) and Famke Janseen (as the journalist) headline the cast. Kumaran will produce with Raza Mallal writing and directing, The aim is to shoot later this year in Eastern Europe.

Here in Cannes, Medient will launch its new martial arts film Kilat, which it is making with its new Malaysian partners, Tarantella Pictures. Tarantella’s M-D Sharad Sharan is expected to direct.

Medient started in India but is now active in several countries – Malaysia, Colombia, the US and (through Atlas) in Germany.

One of Kumuran’s more intriguing ideas is to make the same film simultaneously in several different languages. “The idea is to keep the studio running 24 hours,” Kumuran commented.

Medient was founded in 2004. Its recent productions include Nick Cassavetes’ Yellow and Joahnnes Roberts Storage 24.

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