PRAGUE : Czech director Jan Sverak (www.sverak.cz ) is preparing a new project based on the Saul Bellows book Henderson the Rain King together with his long time production partner Eric Abraham of Portobello Pictures.

Sverak is currently polishing a script based on the 1959 novel that sees its middle aged American hero Henderson head for Africa to try to "find" himself. Set in Africa the film will be a big budget English language production with a US star in the leading role according to Sverak.  The film will shoot entirely on location in Namibia and studios in

Cape Town (South Africa) and Sverak said he and his partners will very soon offer the project to the potential international partners.

A second project in development by the Oscar winning director is a fairy tale musical based on the children's songs composed by his father Zdenek Sverak, one of the Czech Republic's most famous writers and actors.  Zdenek is also the composer of over 400 children's songs which are a form of "sung poetry" are used widely in Czech nursey schools.  Jan sees the film as a unique artistic project that he describes as a sort of "opera" with Mucha style illustrations. Sverak's intention is to make the film in Czech and German (or Polish) versions so he will be looking for talents and co-producers in these territories as soon as the script  will be locked in February.

Sverak's most recent production the children's puppet film Kooky produced by Biograf Jan Sverak has recently been dubbed into English and is being sold internationally by Fandango Portobello Pictures (www.portobellopictures.com).