France's StudioCanal and Italian production outfit Classic Films will co-produce Theo Angelopoulos' $20m epic trilogy about Greek exiles, the first of which, The Weeping Field, is set to star Harvey Keitel.

The Weeping Field, which is based on a short story by Italian scriptwriter Tonino Guerra, is scheduled to shoot in Greece from September 2001. It will be followed by The Third Wing, which is to be shot in Russia, Italy and the Austrian-Hungarian border, and The Eternal Return, which will shoot in New York and Toronto.

Meanwhile Classic has also boarded Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai's 2046, set to star Tony Leung, and the next project from young Argentine talent Daniel Burman, Every Stewardess Goes To Heaven

A co-production with France's Paradis Films, 2046 explores the changes that Hong Kong could face in 50 years, despite China's promise that it will not change the status of the island for the duration of the handover. Shooting is expected to start by the end of 2000 in Bangkok, Korea and Hong Kong.

France's Celluloid Dreams has picked up worldwide sales rights to Burman's Every Stewardess, a co-production with Spain's Wanda Films and Argentina's BD Cine. The film focuses on the close relationship that develops between a troubled stewardess and a doctor who travels to Ushuaia - Argentina's southernmost town and its closest point to the South Pole - to scatter his beloved wife's ashes. Shooting starts in April 2001.