Northwest Vision + Media has named the 12 finalists in its Digital Departures micro-budget film-making initiative. Three teams will be selected to each make a $500,000 (£250,000) feature film in the next 14 months.

Other partners on board for Digital Departures include Liverpool Culture Company, the UK Film Council and the BBC.

The finalists include known talents such as writer Frank Cottrell Boyce and Distant Voices Still Lives director Terence Davies.

Six projects will go forward from August to script stage and three will go into production.

'Resources mean we can only make three features through the initiative, but we will do everything we can to help the filmmakers set up their projects elsewhere,' said project executive producer Lisa Marie Russo. 'The joy of Digital Departures is that it should deliver 12 professionally developed feature film projects, three of which will definitely be made over the next 14 months.'

The 12 shortlisted projects are:

Whispers & Lies (documentary)
Writer/director: Terence Davies
Producers: Solon Papadopoulos and Roy Boulter
A poetic, visual journey of a Liverpool the director left behind, comparing past to present.

Triple Word Score (comedy/arthouse)
Writer: Frank Cottrell Boyce
Director: Carl Hunter
Producer: Sarada McDermott
Although Alan's son went missing years ago, Alan's sure he's alive and playing competitive Scrabble. So he coaches his grandson, hoping to find his lost son.

The Don (drama)
Writers: Jeff Young and Pete Wylie
Director: TBC
Producer: TBC
Cervantes 'Don Quixote' hurtles into the future, crash landing in Liverpool. Out steps The Don, an old rocker, a man out of time and place.

Section 48(working title) (supernatural/psychological horror)
Writer/director: Juliet McKoen
Producer: Chris Bernard
A local lad and his Liverpool born Chinese wife fight for the soul of their son. Is it psychological illness or the supernatural'

Starstruck (drama)
Writer: Leigh Campbell
Director: TBC
Producer: Andy Stebbing
Two teenage girls who are obsessed with a young premiership footballer end up kidnapping him.

Arabian Nightz(comedy)
Writer: Punam Ramchurn
Director: TBC
Producers: Richard Cottier and Melanie Harris
The Khana family restaurant is on the brink of bankruptcy and everyone's keeping secrets. How on earth is an ex-racehorse going to save them'

The Maimed (crime)
Writer: Gavin Whitfield
Director: Laurence Easeman
Producer: John Lentaigne
An unflinching, at times lyrical, psychological drama about interlocking destinies, obsession and ultimately tragic revenge set in the underworld of contemporary Liverpool.

Whores With Guns(comedy)
Writer: John Bishop
Director: James Marquand
Producer: Philip Evers
Two slacker film fanatics' desperate plan to screen their movie to a jaded film reviewer goes horribly wrong when they are mistaken for international terrorists.

Looking For Iris (arthouse thriller)
Writer/director: Lynne Harwood
Co-writer: Jane Farley
Producer: TBC
Six-year-old Iris and her revolutionary Dad are inseparable. But then he goes missing. When his body is found 20 years later, Iris sets out to uncover the truth and find his killer. But will they kill her first'

Left Handed (drama/comedy)
Writer/directors: Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor
Producer: Julie Lau
Eddie & Vera, two pensioners, are staring at a bad retirement plan. The solution to this problem' Theft. On a grand scale.

The NorthernCowboy(comedy)
Writers: Martin Talbot and John Maxwell
Director: Martin Talbot
Producer: John Maxwell
A young Lancashire lad dreams of stardom in Nashville, but first he has to beat his rivals closer to home, in a Country-and-Western competition which showcases so much more than singing.

Salvage (horror)
Writer: Colin O'Donnell
Director: Lawrence Gough
Producer: Alan Pattison
With her street quarantined by a military unit attempting to destroy a savage renegade, a single mother battles to bring her estranged daughter to safety.

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