Suffolk resort chosen for new film

Richard Cornwell

FELIXSTOWE could be set for a tourist boom after being chosen today as the location for a �500,000 feature film connected with the 2012 London Olympics.

Artist Robert Pacitti was announced as the winner of the Art Council's Artists Taking the Lead competition - and will make the community movie next year using historic Landguard Fort, the coast, port and different parts of the resort and region.

Mr Pacitti, 42, who now lives and works in London but grew up in Felixstowe, is hoping to use Suffolk actors for the piece, which will be one of 12 films made nationwide for the Cultural Olympiad.

He is hoping to have a shop in the town centre to enable people to see production work in progress.

Dave Morgan, operations manager for the Landguard Fort Trust, said everyone was thrilled the town had been chosen for the project and felt sure it would bring visitors to see the resort during filming and when the movie is released nationally and internationally.

“This could be huge for Felixstowe - it could bring real interest in the town and coupled with the regeneration work under way here, could provide us with a really good boost,” he said.

Mr Pacitti said: “On Landguard Point is a huge, exciting project; to now be able to make it with, and for, the people of the east - to then share it with the world - is a tremendous privilege. It's going to be great!”

He will use a local cast working alongside leading professional film-makers with the production crew shadowed by people from area, providing hands-on training across all areas of film production for a group of young people.

The film will be based around a series of large-scale participatory, outdoor events exploring the themes of trade, defence and migration, including events at Landguard Fort, an entire street painted black to use as a stage and marketplace for culture, and four huge feasts, each for 1000 people, serving food from all of the 205 Olympic countries.