NEXT Wednesday Mark Staunton whose The End was one of the most impressive Irish short films of recent years - makes his feature film debut with Separation Anxiety, a romantic comedy set in Dublin's Temple Bar area and dealing with the lustful liaisons of young adults reconciling their fears of loneliness with fears of commitment.

The film is scripted by Canadian writer Shelagh Harcourt who features in the ensemble cast with Susan Collins, Ian Coppinger, Brendan F. Dempsey, Anne Gildea, Kevin Gildea, Morgan Jones, Conor Lambert, Michelle Read and Marie Staunton. A London trade paper recently listed the film's budget as £30.5 million. "They got the point five right," says associate producer Kevin Donegan.

And on July 8th, Frank Stapleton's The Fifth Province goes into production for six weeks, in and around north Co Wicklow. The film is, produced by Caroline Hewitt and Catherine Tiernan who describes it as "a surreal comic fable set in contemporary Ireland". The leading players are Brian F. O'Byrne, Lia Williams and Anthony Higgins.