The Cross Channel Film Lab (CCFL) has announced its selection of four low to medium budget film projects – all which have displayed “original and imaginative ways” of utilising visual effects and/or Stereo 3D.

The selected four will participate in the Lab’s year-long workshop programme during this year. A further four projects will be developed for 2014.

The selected four, two from the UK and two from France, are:

  • Reine du Sabbat (France): writer-director Pablo Agüero, producer Nicolas R. de la Mothe;
  • A Tale From the Deep (France): writer-director David Vital-Durand, producer Ilann Girard;
  • One and All (UK): writer-director Henry Davies, producer Denzil Monk;
  • The Machine (UK): writer-director Richard Fenwick, producer Caroline Cooper Charles.

During 2012, Creative England, Bournemouth University, Falmouth University, Cornwall Council and Arts Centre Trust Cornwall worked with France’s Le Groupe Ouest, Artefacto, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Télécom Bretagne (3D Fovea), Ecole Européenne Supérieure d’Art de Bretagne (EESAB), the Dinard Film Festival and a range of industry partners to build a collaborative research and development model for the Cross Channel Film Lab.

The first UK workshop of the CCFL in 2013 will take place in March and writer-director-producer teams will work with experts from the UK and France, combining story and technology at an early stage to refine and present their projects, whilst strengthening their production and post-production planning.

Script consultants, VFX and Stereo 3D experts, and specialist researchers will also assist the filmmakers in exploring the most effective ways for the projects to use technology and engage audiences at a lower budget.

The Cross Channel Film Lab initiative aims to foster the use of these tools for British and French independent cinema at low to medium budget levels. Building on the success of a pilot scheme in 2010, CCFL brings together the strengths and skills of 11 partners from both sides of the Channel, from the film industry and from the research and development fields.

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