Global Talent Laboratory launches

Partnership to produce three features a year

By SHARON SWART

L.A.-based Cinema Libre Studio and Belgium's Corsan have formed Global Talent Laboratory, a production partnership to produce three international arthouse features a year.

Budgets will be in the $1 million to $3 million range, with new directors at the helm.

Said Cinema Libre founder Philippe Diaz, "This new partnership will allow us the freedom to produce not only difficult subjects, but also new voices from Africa or Latin America, which have very few opportunities to express themselves."

First film is "The Last Days of Karl Marx," a co-production between Corsan, run by Paul Breuls, and Jean-Jacques Beineix's production shingle Cargo Films. Helmer is Cinema Libre's Diaz. Pic is slated to shoot in November.

Two 2010 productions include: Robert Leroy's "Toy Soldier," about the death penalty; and a pic about euthanasia, based on the screenplay "The Sacrifice," by Hope Perello.

Three projects each year will be selected, with financing, production and distribution responsibilities shared between Corsan and Cinema Libre.

Distribution in the U.S. will be handled by Cinema Libre. Corsan World Sales will handle other territories.