International sales and finance company Protagonist Pictures has beefed up its slate with five new titles - The Firm, The Unloved, Shifty, Nativity and Dogging: A Love Story - in time for American Film Market (AFM).

'I feel that we are exactly where we want to be as a company; working with both exciting new talent and established but invigorating filmmakers,' said Protagonist CEO Ben Roberts.

Directors Nick Love (The Football Factory, Outlaw) and Debbie Isitt (Nasty Neighbours, Confetti) provide the features track record.

The Firm is Love's latest offering and a new take on Alan Clarke's 1988 award-winning TV film. Shooting from this month, it is produced by James Richardson and Allan Niblo of Vertigo Films.

The comedy Nativity is a BBC Films production that reunites Isitt with Confetti producer Nick Jones and stars Martin Freeman (Love Actually, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and Ashley Jensen.

Three debut features complete the slate. Oscar-nominated actress Samantha Morton makes her first foray into directing with The Unloved. The film starts shooting in November and is funded by C4 and produced by Kate Ogborn with Andrew Eaton of Revolution Films as executive producer.

Writer/director Eran Creevy's first feature, Shifty casts rising star Riz Ahmed (Britz, The Road to Guantanamo) alongside Daniel Mays (Atonement, The Bank Job) and Jason Flemyng (Stardust, Layer Cake). Production is by Ben Pugh and Rory Aitken.

And award-winning short filmmaker Simon Ellis directs the comedy Dogging: A Love Story. Dogging is written by Brock Norman Brock and Michael Groom, and is produced by Vertigo Films.