We've been raving about this pair of filmmakers since we caught their candid, visual essay The Patron Saints at TIFF last year, and now we've got a pair of stills from Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky's feature film debut, which is set to showcase at the 2012 edition of the Berlin Film Festival.

Good news on the Scandi film front as Joachim Trier's Louder than Bombs (an English language film to be shot in the U.S) appears to have gained some traction as Cineuropa confirms that Sigve Endresen's prod co. Motlys AS will be working alongside Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa's Bona Fide Productions with a fall start date being eyed.

Being a fan of the filmmaker, the principle actor and several key indie filmmaking members behind the scenes, we're proud to have your first look at the festival one sheet poster for For Ellen - the U.S. Dramatic Competition feature film from So Yong Kim. In the one sheet designed by Gregory Homs (who designed one-sheets for A Room with a View, Home Of The Brave), the spatial dimensions in the shot expound on the central characters' solace (Paul Dano's character of Joby appears to be torn by his past, but his forthcoming future as well)...

Collectively they've helped launch the careers of helmers we hold dear to our cinephilic hearts in Ryan Fleck and Derek Cianfrance. They've contributed to the burgeoning careers of talented behind the scenes folk such as Cinematographer Andrij Parekh, Art Director Inbal Weinberg and Costume Designer Erin Benach. And Ryan Gosling has been the biggest winner on the three times that Patricof and Howell (and producer Alex Orlovsky) got together for a shared common goal.

It'll be back to back production years for the Xan Cassavetes. The eldest daughter of the indie maverick is putting the final touches on her vampire love triangle Kiss of the Damned, a film that should preem at a major film festival in 2012 and now she has lined up her next project entitled 1000 Days of Rage and Hope which will begin lensing in NYC next April.

They're a creative filmmaking model to emulate. Borderline Film's Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin and Josh Mond have tied the knot with Fox Searchlight for a two-year, first-look deal. After a courtship phase that began the moment when Martha Marcy May Marlene was picked up by Searchlight at Sundance, the indie studio made a no-brainer move to be the first in line and see what other original masterworks Campos, Durkin and Mond can come up with.

Hurricane Katrina's path of destruction has inevitably become a source of inspiration and the backdrop for new filmic material as is the case for Imperial Palace - a new Killer Films and Before The Door Pictures venture that'll go into production sometime in the spring of 2012.

A full five years since showing up at Sundance with her stripped down addiction drama Sherrybaby, (for which Maggie Gyllenhaal received tons of accolades for) Laurie Collyer will be exploring some of the same dramatic terrain once again -- her third film has begun lensing with the not too shabby pairing of Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon toplining the pic about a shipwrecked working class couple in distress. Sunlight Jr. will bask in a a rundown Florida backdrop with Original Media’s Charlie Corwin and Freight Yard Films’ Andrea Roa producing.

Jeff Nichols' muse Michael Shannon, Take Shelter player Ray McKinnon, Sarah Paulson (whose stock significantly rose with Martha Marcy May Marlene) and the busier than ever Sam Shepard have signed onto Mud - Nichols third feature film which began shooting today in his native Arkansas.

Micro-distributor Cinemad Presents have added what I imagine is their first Cannes title to their humble slate. Cam Archer's 2010 Cannes preemed Shit Year (Directors' Fortnight) will be brought to market next month with a booking at the IFC in NYC with other venues/cities to follow.

Guatemalan Handshake and Catechism Cataclysm helmer Todd Rohal's Sundance workshopped screenplay has received the greenlight. According to Deadline, production on the to be retitled Scoutmasters commences this week with Johnny Knoxville and Patton Oswalt toplining the dark comedy with a supporting cast rounded out by Rob Riggle (21 Jump Street), Maura Tierney (television's ER) and Patrice O'Neal with the hope that the production squeezes in a part for Robert Longstreet.

I Am Love has opened some huge doors for Italian helmer Luca Guadagnino. Currently keepoing busy with docu films Inconscio italiano (showing at Venice this month) and Bertolucci on Bertolucci (docu due out next year), he has been developing Auntie Mame and Corsica 72 as his potential feature film projects - but now it's a remake of Jacques Deray's “The Swimming Pool" - the 1969 pic starring Alain Delon, Romy Schneider and a very young Jane Birkin that looks to be his next.

Currently in that star child actress moving onto more adult roles phase of her career, Abigail Breslin is moving closer to the direction of acting peers such as the Fannings by taking on some tougher, less flattering indie drama roles. After signing up for Hilary Brougher's Innocence, the actress will now topline The Class Project, playing one of two teen sisters turned murders.

Sony Pictures Classics knows their market well. Loaded with a cast of actors who were ripe back in the 70's (Keaton, Kline, Shepard, Wiest and Richard Jenkins whose career really took off in the last decade), SPC have picked up Lawrence Kasdan's Darling Companion and have set it for their 2012 slate.

Expect this upcoming Fall season to be a pivotal first for the two-year old ATO Pictures. With Pawel Pawlikowski's The Woman in the Fifth and Dominik Moll's The Monk both expected to make their North American first looks at Telluride/TIFF, the disturb co. will have a Sundance preemed black comedy hitting theatres around the same time.

After placing a bet on Elizabeth Olsen and wagering on Brit Marling on a couple of titles, it appears that Fox Searchlight are gaga for another Sundance 2011 starlet in Felicity Jones. Among the studios that lost out on the bid to grab the North American rights to Like Crazy, it appears that Jones is being strongly considered to topline The East, Zal Batmanglij's sophomore film which is being tagged as a dramatic thriller.

Deadline reports that Eva Mendes will play the robber's love interest (Gosling) and mother of his child, and Greta Gerwig is in talks to play the politician's wife, joining the already cast Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling in The Place Beyond The Pines.

If you don't count TV doc Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession, we can finally say that Xan Cassavetes has joined her sis, her bro and her pops as a feature filmmaker. In fact, Variety reports that her debut film, Kiss of the Damned has already wrapped and had French thesps Josephine de la Baume (bit role in Gavras' Our Day Will Come and soon to be seen in Confession of a Child of the Century) and Roxane Mesquida (Catherine Breillat regular) and Milo Ventimiglia toplining.

Usually a month where we tend to avoid the multiplex, the positive buzz on Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class and J.J. Abrams' Super 8 and the inclusion of Blacklist 2008 favorite Bad Teacher means we might be shifting between smaller and larger venues this June.

It looks like the people who brought us the indie-smash hit Little Miss Sunshine are looking to recreate some of that same magic with their next film and they plan on doing so by rounding up ‘Sunshine’ alums anywhere they can find them. According to 24 frames, the directors, producers, distributors and as of right now, one cast member of the 2006 Oscar nominated flic are on board for the upcoming dramedy He Loves Me.