With the domestic portion of the shoot just wrapped, it can be said that the first-ever Slovenian-Canadian coproduction is certainly a star-studded affair.

The Maiden Danced boasts an on-screen line-up that includes Deborah Unger (Silent Hill, The Salton Sea), Stephen McHattie (2112, Watchmen), Gil Bellows (Unthinkable, The Shawshank Redemption) and Zsolt László (Control, Sunshine) – not to mention the Budapest Dance Ensemble.

Behind the camera is writer/director/actor Endre Hules, with Oscar-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (The Black Dahlia, Close Encounters, Deliverance, Deer Hunter) handling the visuals.

The film tells the tale of two brothers, both dancers, in post-Communist Hungary. One left, the other remained, but after two decades they reunite and attempt to marshal both their talents and their relationship long enough to launch a world tour.

The Maiden Danced is produced by Quiet Revolution Pictures in Ottawa, Cinema-Film in Hungary and Casablanca Film in Slovenia.

Michael Dobbin of Quiet Revolution says the goal was originally a tripartite copro, but at the time, the Hungarian-Canadian treaty was offline. The partners moved forward regardless (with a third less paperwork), and in the end the film is about 27% Canadian.

The film began with a two-week shoot in Slovenia at the end of April, followed by two and a half weeks in Hungary, before about a week’s worth of shooting in Montreal and Ottawa. The crew has returned to Hungary for choreography rehearsals before wrapping in Budapest at the end of June. Dobbin notes that the original preference was to complete the Hungarian shoot in one go, but several of the dancers had existing contracts that forced a second visit. Edits will be handled in Canada.

Dobbin is aiming to finish for November, well in time for a Hungarian festival premiere in January. He’d also like to see it at the Berlinale in 2011, given that the production partners originally met and the film was born at the Berlin film fest in 2008.