Cornwall Council has secured £1.2m of EU funding to launch Cross Channel Film Lab 2, a research and development project designed to help UK and French filmmakers make the most of modern technology. 

The scheme aims to develop links between screenwriting, visual effects and 3D innovations in a bid to produce a new generation of ambitious, technically innovative films in the vein of Gareth Edwards’ Monsters.

It is open to both Cornwall and Brittany based film-makers and begins this week at the new Academy for Innovation and Research (AIR) at University College Falmouth. Workshops will take place on both sides of the Channel, with the aim of producing 8 feature film projects in 2013 and 2014. Submissions will open in October at the Dinard Film Festival in Brittany.

It plans to build on the success of the first Cross Channel Film Lab project which was completed in 2010.

Councillor Chris Ridgers, Cornwall Council cabinet member for economy said: “Cornwall and its cross-Channel partners in Brittany will benefit culturally, economically and technologically from this investment and from the project and filmmakers will leave the scheme with a strong script, technical and practical tools, and links to industry that can help make their visions a reality”.

Topics