Cineposium

North West Vision's Film Officers at International Cineposium

North West Vision's film officers took the high road to Glasgow last week for the Association of Film Commissioners International's (AFCI) 30th annual training event, Cineposium.

Hosted this year by the Glasgow Film Office with support from Scottish Screen, the event brought together film officers from all over the world and aimed to provide progressive global viewpoints from international speakers to aid the development of the TV/film industry.

Over the five-day event Susan Williams, Bobby Cochrane, Lynda Bannister and Kevin Bell were given talks and training by film professionals from around the globe. Topics such as marketing, working with clients, working with production, interacting with localities and creating reports and statistics were covered. They gained invaluable knowledge and techniques that can put back into practice back in the Northwest.

The Northwest is currently going through a filming boom and in the first six months of this year North West Vision's Manchester Film Office recorded a 29% increase in filming activity compared to the same time last year. In 2005 filming in Greater Manchester generated over £30million of inward investment for the local economy.

Liverpool is experiencing a similar experience, with the number of productions filming rising by 28% compared with this time last year. 2005 thus looks set to be a record year for filming in the city. The total so far for this year stands at 105 compared to 82 at the same time last year (when the current record was set).

Lynda Bannister (Lancashire's Film Liaison Officer) also attended last year's event in glamorous Las Vegas:

"I found Cineposium to be well organised, extremely professional and above all a fantastic learning experience. This is a great opportunity to experience valuable training, gain access to pick the brains of international industry figures and meet film office staff from all over the world."

Lynn Saunders, Head of Inward Investment for North West Vision said:

"It has been proved that filming activity boosts tourism in the region and with the support of North West Vision's film office staff the TV and film industry in the Northwest looks set to grow even further over the next few years. It is therefore important that our staff have a strong understanding of global filming issues and have access to the right training to build on their experience and offer a continually improving service to TV and filmmakers in the region. "

The 5-day Cineposium opened with a general session with guest speaker Mary Nelson of the Virginia Film Office on Film Commission Fundamentals.

One of the most popular sessions from the event was 'How Would You Handle It?'. Film office staff discussed how they have handled situations and share their experiences with others so that difficult and challenging situations can be handled efficiently in the future.

This year saw the 30th Anniversary of Cineposium and it was held in the UK for the first time in over 10 years, a reflection of the thriving domestic TV and Film industry.

A truly global event, last year's Cineposium in glamorous Las Vegas was attended by film office staff from Thailand, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, America, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Seattle, Vancouver, Italy to name but a few, and this year was even bigger. This gave film officers the opportunity to swap ideas, brainstorm, make friends and of course have fun and even offer a bit of travel advice.

It may be a far cry from the glitz and glam of a Las Vegas casino but this year the team enjoyed some good old Scottish hospitality culminating in a wrap party to celebrate all things Scotland with a traditional Scottish Ceilidh.

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For further editorial information contact Lisa Hill or Rachael Pilsbury at North West Vision on 0161 835 6266/ 07734193742 or email lisah@northwestvision.co.uk or rachaelp@northwestvision.co.uk