Montreal: Film and TV producer Cite-Amerique is in financing on an ambitious new round of international drama for 2002/03, including renewals of the tres noir miniseries thriller Dice and the delightful animatronics/puppet series Wumpa’s World. Among new titles, the house is in financing on Blue Dragon, a claymation series based on the books of American children’s author Dav Pilkey, and an English-track feature film coproduction adaptation of the landmark Michel Tremblay stageplay Les Belles-Soeurs.

Dice II, a six-hour coproduction with Box TV of the U.K., is budgeted at close to $6 million and is slated to film on location in Quebec as early as June or July. The setting this time is Star Lake, an apparently peaceful community populated by mostly retired white folks, Natives and gamblers drawn to the Native-run casino.

First-round Canadian broadcasters Showcase Television, The Movie Network, Movie Central, Super Ecran and Series+ are back for more, but foreign sales by TF1 International at this month’s MIPTV should prove decisive, says Cite-Amerique producer Louis Laverdiere.

Dice is scripted by U.K. writers A.L. Kennedy and John Burnside, but is conceived entirely by producers Lorraine Richard, Cite-Amerique president, cofounder (in 1987) and principal shareholder, and Greg Dummett. Luc Martineau also produces and VP finance and administration Vivianne Morin serves as exec producer.

International sales for the $2-million North Pole kiddies series Wumpa’s World is also an issue, but a second round (26 x 15) has been renewed by YTV and Jim Compton of APTN, with TFO also signing on.

Blue Dragon, a 13 half-hour/multi-format coproduction with producer Jan Bonath of Germany’s Scopas, has a commitment from public b’caster ZDF, with interest from a major U.S. kids network, says Laverdiere.

Intended for the three- to five-year-old set, Dragon explores universal themes like wanting a friend, being afraid of the dark or trying not to scarf down all your candy at once.

No less remarkable, the offices of playwright Tremblay have accepted English writer Christine Mandby’s screenplay adaptation of Les Belles Soeurs. The play has been staged in 43 countries over the past three decades, and Laverdiere sees the whole affair as ‘un vrai bijou [a real gem]. ‘

The producers, including Box TV’s Gub Neal, hope to film the $6-million movie in Montreal later this summer and fall. Director John N. Smith (Random Passage) is on board as is distrib Pierre Brousseau of Seville Pictures. ‘We’re very proud we have been able to convince Tremblay with this vision of Les Belles Soeurs and create a work which will be distributed beyond our borders,’ says Laverdiere who seems a little unsure of the treatment’s reception by nationalistic types in the media.

Cite-Amerique and Moncton, NB-based Sam Grana Productions (51%) are in production on the $4.4-million official coproduction Samuel. The four-hour primetime drama will be broadcast by Radio-Canada and tells a coming-of-age story of a young Acadian boy who dreams of life at sea.

The house is in delivery on the Charles Biname feature Seraphin (Un homme et son peche), an adaptation of a classic Quebec novel which was also popularized on radio, in movies and in a long-running TV series. The screenplay is by Pierre Billon and Biname. The picture editor is Michael Arcand. A major release by distrib Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm is scheduled for late 2002.

Recent Cite-Amerique productions include Random Passage, coproduced with Ireland’s Subotica and St. John’s Passage Films; the Lea Pool feature Lost and Delirious; and a series of TV movies based on the Marcel Pagnol classics – La Femme de Boulanger and La Trilogie Marseillaise – coproduced with French partners.

Remstar’s Dangerous Liaisons

Remstar Productions continues to build its international profile with the signing of its first official treaty coproduction, Dangerous Liaisons, a $ 32-million contemporary TV miniseries adaptation of author Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ classic story of deception and revenge. The coproducers are JLA Productions of France and The Future Film Group of the U.K.

The stars are Catherine Deneuve, Rupert Everett, Nastassja Kinski and Leelee Sobieski (Joan of Arc). Josee Dayan (Les Miserables, Balzac) is the director. Maxime Remillard, president of Remstar Productions, is one of the shoot’s producers. Julien Remillard is exec producer.

Principal photography began this month on France’s Cote d’Azur, moving to Scotland and wrapping in Montreal early this summer. The series will be distributed internationally by TF1 International, with Remstar holding Canadian rights. A U.S. broadcast deal is in the works.

SODEC funds eight features

SODEC has accepted eight of 23 feature film submissions in its first round of financing in 2002/03. Joelle Levie, the agency’s director-general for film and television production, sees the results as clear proof of the growing diversity of trends in the Quebec film industry.

Two of the qualifying projects are in the lower-budget ‘independent’ film category – director Denis Boivin’s tragic-comic road movie Attache ta tuque from Quebec City-based Film Dionysos, and Infinitely Yours, described as an audacious comedy of manners from first-time feature writer/director Patricia Vergeylen-Tassinari (Vent d’Est Films/7eme Art Distribution).

In the higher-budget ‘private sector’ category, SODEC has reserved financing for:

* Louis Belanger’s (Post Mortem) second feature, Le Debut de la fin (Productions 23/Film Tonic);

* Yves Simoneau’s La Louve (Melenny Productions/Christal Films Distribution), a Canada/France historical drama about the legendary Quebec ‘sorceress’ La Corriveau;

* John L’ Ecuyer’s Le Gout des jeunes filles (Productions Jeux d’Ombres/Christal), a coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of a turbulent 1970s Haiti and adaptation of the Dany Laferriere novel;

* Erik Canuel’s Le Tunnel (Bloom Films/Christal), a riveting suspense story about one of the biggest bank heists of the century, starring Michel Cote.

Other new projects include first-time feature director Rudy Baricchello’s Rencontres avec un jeune poete (Lyla Films/Film Tonic), an impressionistic portrait of Samuel Beckett starring Gabriel Arcand and coproduced with Belgium, and prolific writer/director Louis Saia’s black comedy La Balade des dangereux (Melenny/Christal), featuring stand-up comic Stephane Rousseau and popular TV star Veronique Cloutier (Music Hall, La Fureur). Balade begins principal photography May 13.

Upcoming SODEC production financing submission deadlines are as follows: May 15 for documentary miniseries and series, June 1 for the Aide aux Jeunes Createurs program, and June 15 for independent feature films.