A contentious story about an Israeli girl who decides to get a Palestinian pen pal is among six French-language feature films handpicked for second-round funding from Telefilm Canada.

The six projects, announced Friday, will split $7 million via the agency’s Canada Feature Film Fund for 2010/11. Telefilm also backed 10 projects during the first round of submissions for a total of $7.8 million. The 16 films will split an additional $10.6 million in the form of performance envelopes allocated to producers who received the best box office results during the year.

‘The year ahead promises to be really interesting in terms of the movies we’ll be seeing in theaters,’ commented Telefilm’s director of project financing Michel Pradier in a release. The agency’s total commitment through CFFF for the upcoming year is $25 million.

The six projects announced for round-two funding are:

• The Canada/France copro Une bouteille dans la mer de Gaza about the friendship between pen pals — an Israeli girl and a young Palestinian man. The drama is written and directed by Thierry Binisti under producers Anne-Marie Gélinas and Miléna Poylo of Canada and Gilles Sacuto of France.

• The drama Bashir Lazhar, the latest from writer/director Philippe Falardeau (Congorama), about a new teacher who tries to help a group of traumatized pupils after the suicide of their teacher. Producers are Luc Déry and Kim McCraw.

• Claude Desrosiers’ comedy Bossé, written by Luc Déry, follows the ups and downs of a powerful businessman’s career. Lyse Lafontaine is producing.

• Crime drama La peur de l’eau, about a murder in a quiet island community, from writer/director Gabriel Pelletier, under producers Nicole Robert and Ann Bernier.

• Romantic drama Pour l’amour de Dieu, written and directed by Micheline Lanctôt, about the love affair between a recently ordained Dominican priest and a nun. Producers are André Gagnon and Monique Huberdeau,

• Ken Scott’s comedy Starbuck, about a man whose life is turned upside down by the appearance of numerous children – the result of his activities as a sperm donor. André Rouleau is producing.