MUMBAI: Shangri-La Pictures has signed a $100 million film fund deal to finance a slate of English language commercial films for global distribution over the next three years.

The agreement sees the formation of a joint venture company based in Singapore between Shangri-La Pictures and Upside Down Entertainment, with financing provided by Quixotic Media Group from the USA. The production of all projects in the film slate will be spearheaded by Shangri-La Pictures.

The first project to be produced through the fund will be SIN-JIN, a modern day action hero / adventure story, adapted from a comic book of the same name that is scheduled for release later this year. SIN-JIN will be directed by multiple award winning director / cinematographer John Radel, and produced by Singapore producer Calvin Tan. It is scheduled for a late 2010 worldwide release. Casting for SIN-JIN is underway and production is scheduled to begin in January 2010.

SIN-JIN director and Shangri-La Pictures co-director John Radel said, "We are extremely excited with our upcoming slate of projects, which will give some of Asia’s top creative talents a genuine chance to shine on the global stage. The aim of the fund is to create films set in Asia that can sell to international audiences, and we feel now is the right time to take the Asian films and target the mainstream audiences. Very exciting times ahead!"

The company’s slate of film projects in development include My Life With You, Reason To Live, Dying To Believe and Return To Shangri-La.