Astral’s Harold Greenberg Fund has unveiled early-stage financial backing for the latest movies by Deepa Mehta, Patricia Rozema and Sarah Polley.

The industry fund in all signalled script development support for 27 projects.

These include Patricia Rozema’s family drama Via Dolorosa, from Martin Katz’s Prospero Pictures and based on a script by David Ackerman.

The indie film portrays a devout Catholic and an abused wife forcing her wild daughter to travel to the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem to save her soul.

Rather than finding salvation, mother and daughter uncover a cupboard full of family skeletons from pre-First World War Palestine.

The Harold Greenberg Fund is also backing Deepa Mehta’s next project, a film adaptation of Shilpi Somaya Gowda’s best-selling novel Secret Daughter from producers Jody Colero of Silent Joe Inc. and Hussain Amarshi of Mongrel Media.

Also getting script development coin is writer/director Floyd Kane’s Riot, Sarah Polley’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel Alias Grace, Jeremiah Chechik’s screenplay for Valleys of the Sea, to be produced by South Creek Pictures’ Dave Valleau, and Stephen Dunn’s debut feature Closet Monster, about a teenage boy fighting to reclaim his life in St. John’s after a turbulent childhood.

Niv Fichman at Rhombus Media will produce Closet Monster.

The Harold Greenberg Fund is also supporting Jefferson Moneo’s script for Big Muddy ahead of the world premiere of Moneo’s short film Going South, in Cannes.

Big Muddy portrays modern day outlaw in rural Saskatchewan whose violent past resurfaces, Big Muddy received polish and packaging funds and aims to shoot this summer.

Moneo, who will also direct Big Muddy, is producing, as is Bob Crowe, Wally Start and Coral Aiken.