Two Heed 'songcatcher'

Aidan Quinn and Janet McTeer will star in writer-director Maggie Greenwald's "Songcatcher," which begins shooting next week in North Carolina.

"Songcatcher" is the first of a four-film slate to roll from New York-based banner ErgoArts Inc., a new division of Rigas Entertainment set up by Ellen Rigas Venetis and her father John Rigas, founder and CEO of cable giant Adelphia Communications.

McTeer, a Tony Award winner and star of the Sundance hit "Tumbleweeds," plays a music scholar who heads deep into Appalachia at the turn of the century and discovers a trove of folk songs and the possibility of love with a hardened mountain man (Quinn).

Bluesman Taj Mahal, country star Iris DeMent, Pat Carroll and Jane Adams also star in the film, which will be produced by Rigas Venetis and Richard Miller of Available Light Prods. The film is privately financed.

Greenwald's films include "The Ballad of Little Jo" and "The Kill-Off."

ErgoArts aims to produce about one film a year in the $2 million-$5 million budget range. It recently hired Wendy Sax as development director and Lisa Vandever as creative executive.

"Our agenda is to create films that use proven commercial genres in new and unexpected ways," Rigas Venetis said.

The company's slate includes:

*"Dear Juliet," a romantic comedy by James Bosley about an American couple living in Italy whose marriage is threatened by a beautiful Italian neighbor. The project is being developed with "The Full Monty" helmer Peter Cattaneo, who will not direct.

*"The Creole Queen," a tentatively titled drama by Tanya Hamilton about an FBI agent sent home to New Orleans to investigate a corrupt cop.

*An untitled drama in the treatment stage about a Greek immigrant torn just before World War II between playing minor-league baseball and serving his adopted country.