Montreal: Coproducers Motion International and Editions Dupuis of France and international distrib Paramount International Television plan to have a completed episode and trailer of the new one-hour adventure series Largo Winch ready for natpe in January.

In Largo Winch, an adaptation of the top-selling Euro comic book from Jean Van Hamme and Philippe Francq, actor Paolo Seganti (L.A. Confidential, Tea with Mussolini, The Nanny) plays Largo, a laid-back, Bond-style adventurer in the world of international high finance.

The first 10 episodes began filming on location and in studio in Montreal in late November, wrapping mid-April in France. ‘In the meantime, hopefully, we’ll have been renewed for another 16 episodes,’ says series producer Jacques Methe, president, international drama, with Motion.

The series was developed over several years by David Patterson, president of Montreal-based Mediatoon, a Dupuis company. Patterson and showrunner Phil Bedard are Largo’s executive producers. Leon Perahia of Dupuis is coproducing with Methe.

Motion and Dupuis have invested $19 million in the first 10 hours, although Methe says that includes the cost of development, set design and construction.

Largo cast members include Montreal actor Serge Houde (Justice, Task Force: Caviar, Grey Owl) in the role of Sullivan, Largo’s trusted senior adviser; Diego Wallraff (The Perez Family, Delta Team); Emmy Award-nominee Sydney Penny (The Thorn Birds, Bernadette); and Geordie Johnson (Traders, The English Patient).

Broadcasters include M6 in France, Beta Film/Tandem Communications in Germany and rtl-tvi in Belgium. Motion has Canadian rights; Dupuis has France, the Benelux countries, Greece and international licensing and merchandising; and Paramount has the u.s. and the rest of the world.

Largo Winch is being shot in Super 16mm, a format now broadly required by broadcasters in Europe, says Methe.

In 1999, Methe and Motion’s international division produced $46 million in series and movies, $40 million representing Motion’s share.

* Chica shows Promise

director Patricia Chica’s new dramatic short La Promesse/The Promise had its premier Dec. 6 at the Cinematheque Quebecoise. The 26-minute romantic comedy was produced by composer Martin Lord and Chica of Flirt Films, which is part of the Media-Loft multimedia collective. The El Salvador consulate cohosted the premier and reception.

The Promise opens with a 25-year-old woman who discovers a letter she wrote to herself 13 years earlier. She recalls her first kiss and Jimmy, her first boyfriend, and the promise they made to meet again on New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, 1999.

The short was shot on 35mm Kodak film over nine days and was budgeted at $200,000, with lots of help from sponsors and ‘industry favors’ from operations like Covitec, Locations Michel Trudel, Productions Imagene and Brasseurs du Nord. mbanx, the National Film Board, Imagene and the Quebec National Assembly helped with financing.

Cast includes leads Victoria Sanchez and Stephane Gagnon along with Manuel Tadros, Christian Paul, Christina Campoli and La Presse diva-columnist Francine Grimaldi. Daniel Roby and Francois Legris were the dops; Chica and Anne Poitras wrote the screenplay.

Chica, 26, started making films as a 17-year-old student. She’s directed videoclips (Lili Fatale) and shorts (Renaissance d’Aphrodite) and is directing Music of the Century, a five-hour doc series on the history of jazz for Amerimage Spectra and producer Pierre Touchette. cfcf-tv has licensed this series, which is aimed at the international market, says the director.

* Elson joins Galafilm

documentary producer Richard Elson of Imageries has joined up with Galafilm producer Arnie Gelbart. Elson will continue to produce under the 15-year-old Imageries banner and develop docs for Galafilm.

Elson’s (The Colours of My Father: A Portrait of Sam Borenstein, The Cry of the Beluga) recent filmography includes the award-winning The Mystery of the Blue Whale, sold to cbc, Canal d, Discovery Europe and National Geographic Channels Worldwide, and What If…A Film about Judith Merril, sold to Space: The Imagination Station and pubcaster Tele-Quebec.

Galafilm’s ’99 productions include the Arto Paragamian feature Two Thousand and None; The Worst Witch, a youth series coproduced with the u.k.; and Brian McKenna’s (The War of 1812) just-wrapped The Forum Riot: Prelude to a Revolution. The latter looks at the riot surrounding Rocket Richard’s notorious 1955 playoff suspension and its broader impact on the eve of Quebec’s Quiet Revolution. Stephan Nietoslowski was the dop and Shauna Patterson was pm. The Forum Riot is licensed by Global Television Network and Reseau tva.

* Isacsson returns to Gothenburg

just back from Amsterdam, documentary filmmaker Magnus Isacsson and his film The Choir Boys are headed to where home used to be – and family and friends still are – Gothenburg, Sweden, and the Gothenburg Film Festival, Jan. 29-30.

The film is a two-year chronicle of the homeless men who form the now-famous Chorale de l’Accueil Bonneau. The director heads next to Bombay where the film is in competition at the Bumbai International Film Festival, Feb. 2-9. The $460,000 doc was produced by Paul Lapointe of Erezi Productions, with funding from Telefilm Canada and sodec. It was picked up by Radio-Canada and is being versioned for cbc. Mediamax International is the international sales agent.

The social activist filmmaker delivered two other docs this year, including Un syndicat avec ca?, a one-hour ‘cautionary tale’ about the failed campaign to unionize a local McDonald’s restaurant. It was produced by Marcel Simard of Productions Virage for Tele-Quebec on a budget of $360,000.

‘I followed the events closely over two years,’ says the director. ‘Regular news media don’t normally get inside these stories.’

A third Isacsson documentary, Pressure Point – shot with filmmakers Anna Paskal and Malcolm Guy – was the avant-premiere at Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire du Montreal, Dec. 1-5.

The doc takes an insider’s look at the actions of anti-mia demonstrators and served as a timely prep for the ‘Battle in Seattle’ and the World Trade Organization meet, attended by both Paskal and Guy. Guy’s Productions Multi-Monde produced Pressure Point and Tele-Quebec is broadcasting.

‘My own interest is mostly in finding stories on important issues which are also dramatic stories. I like to follow things for a couple of years, especially a David-against-Goliath story, where you see your characters go through defining moments,’ says Isacsson, who started his indie film career in 1986 and is a former radio and tv producer with both src and cbc.

* Multimedia @MILIA

SODEC is issuing a last call to producers who would like to join its Quebec Multimedia stand at the milia interactive program market in Cannes, Feb. 15-18. sodec recently launched a new website, www.sodec.gouv.qc.ca.

Participation in Quebec Multimedia comes with various service benefits, including publicity, an Internet listing and a limited rebate program administered by Association des Producteurs en Multimedia du Quebec.

Inquiries should be forwarded to Valerie Stein, sodec’s international affairs coordinator at steiv@sodec.gouv.qc.ca.