February 13, 2025

MOVE Summit 2025 Programme Revealed

MOVE Summit, Scotland’s animation and VFX gathering, returns this year to the historic Pleasance Courtyard from 19th – 21st February 2025.

The conference brings local industry leaders, international creatives, students, and educators to Edinburgh to celebrate industry successes and inspire the next generation of artists.

MOVE Summit boasts three days of talks, workshops, creative reviews, screenings, recruitment, networking, and business development. The Emerging Talent Day (Wednesday 19th February) is dedicated to students, with a programme focused on industry-ready skill development. MOVE’s Industry Days (Thursday 20th and Friday 21st February) bring together practitioners from all over the UK and beyond, highlighting Scotland’s work to a global audience.

This year’s Industry schedule features keynote presentations from:

Chris McDonald (Visualisation Supervisor, Framestore), delving into the craft of previs, techvis and postvis and demonstrating how these techniques were instrumental in developing iconic scenes from Jon M. Chu’s critically acclaimed film Wicked.

Director Mike Mitchell, taking the audience on a journey through his illustrious career, including his work on many major IP’s including Shrek, Madagascar, Lego, Spongebob Squarepants, and many more.

Renfrewshire-born James Hodgart (Environmental Model Supervisor, Walt Disney Animation Studios), will speak about his work in 3D environments over the last decade, including recent projects Moana 2 and Disney+’s upcoming Tiana series.

Maurissa Horwitz (Lead Editor, Pixar) will take delegates behind the scenes of Inside Out 2, sharing how the iconic alarm scene came to life and which new emotions were left on the cutting room floor.

Other notable highlights from the programme include a talk from Blinkink’s Bart Yates on the company’s journey from a boutique production company into an original development studio, creating unique IPs for film, TV and games, while Stephen McNally will take attendees through the adventure of creating HBO mixed media special Peter & the Wolf.

Kate O’Connor (Executive Chair, Animation UK) will join the conference to outline the Animation Blueprint for Growth – a strategic roadmap designed to drive both local and UK-wide growth of the animation industry, inviting delegates to take part in the debate on shaping the future of UK animation.

From Nexus Studios, Hannah Lau-Walker will explore the intersection of her personal and commissioned work, while Deborah Casswell will lead delegates on an enlightening journey into the development and creation of the immersive mindfulness experience Headspace XR.

Ben Krolick (Head of Animation, MPC) will host an exclusive look into MPC’s work in high-end visual effects and animation, including behind-the-scenes glimpses at Mufasa: The Lion King and insights into the cutting-edge techniques shaping the future of animation.

Victor Paredes (Animator & Product Manager, Moho Animation) will demonstrate how to create 2D animation in new non-traditional ways, using examples from Scavenger’s Reign, My Father’s Dragon and Wolfwalkers. Delegates can also trial the software for themselves and gain first-hand guidance from Victor in a special workshop hosted during the conference.

Sam Taylor and Abe Coyne (REALTIME) will walk delegates through a full rigging walkthrough with KineFX and APEX in Houdini, as well as leading a deep-dive into the world of character cloth simulation in a workshop perfect for CFX artists, technical animators, and anyone refining their cloth sim skills.

Meanwhile, Dane Winn (Blue Zoo Animation) will provide an up-close look at an exciting inhouse R&D project to create a one-click facial rig that can accommodate a vast array of animation styles.

Creative Sprouts’ Marion Edwards and Chris Rose will lead a deep-dive into the kids’ animation landscape in 2025, providing insights and tips to help stand out from the crowd, while My SMASH Media’s Christine Hartland and Fiona Gillies will guide delegates through the process of pitching a project confidently and successfully in an informative workshop.

MOVE attendees can also enroll in ‘Networking for the Anxious’, a relaxed roundtable-style workshop led by screenwriter. playwright and author Ross Mackay and psychologist and hypnotherapist Alan Freeburn.

Navigating the funding landscape can be extremely challenging, and MOVE aims to demystify the process with panel discussions covering both traditional and non-traditional founding routes for animated projects. Delegates can hear about the BFI’s UK Global Screen Fund with first-hand case studies from companies who’ve been supported, plus representatives from the BFI, Screen Scotland, UKRI and the Edge competition will provide the lowdown on their available opportunities.

1:1 meeting opportunities continue to be an important part of the MOVE experience, and the conference has introduced Pitch Prep 1:1s to the Business@MOVE strand this year. Attendees will have the opportunity to test their show pitches on a selection of industry experts in an intimate 10-minute 1-to-1 format, receiving vital feedback and top tips on how to improve.

Returning for 2025 is also MOVE’s live pitching showcase, where a selected shortlist of creatives pitch their show concepts in front of a panel of industry experts and commissioners – as well as a live audience! Participants will receive invaluable feedback on their pitches and concepts as well as the chance to win a cash prize.

MOVE’s 2025 short films in competition programme include work from Duncan Rudd, Will Anderson, Sarah Beeby and Sammi Duong to name just a few, and there’ll be a chance to hear from several of the selected filmmakers themselves during a Skwigly Animation Podcast event taking place at the conference. Attendees will also be treated to an early preview screening of Gints Zilbalodis’ animated feature Flow, which has received multiple nominations for this year’s Academy Awards.

As always, MOVE’s Emerging Talent Day on Wednesday 19th February provides a unique opportunity for the UK’s animation students to learn from international industry professionals. This year’s Emerging Talent Day speakers include Maurissa Horwitz (Pixar), Bart Yates (Blinkink), plus representatives from Scottish studio Wild Child Animation. Students will also be treated to a live demonstration with acclaimed 2D animator and animation director Peter Dodd, and Cécile Blondel (GOBELINS) will draw on 35 years of experience in teaching and programme development to explore the critical intersection of education and industry.

Plus, students will have the exciting opportunity to take part in MOVE’s annual Creative Challenge which this year will be set by director Mike Mitchell and feature mentors from animation studios such as Wild Child, Eyebolls and Cahoots.

MOVE Summit 2025 is made possible thanks to the generous support of the event’s funders and partners, who include Screen Scotland, Rockstar Games, Wild Child Animation, SideFX, Wacom and Moho Animation.

The full conference agenda is expected to be released within the coming days.

Co-founded by Tom Bryant (The Lost Thing, Best Animated Short Film Oscar winner, 2010), MOVE Summit has grown year on year to sold out audiences. In 2017, its inaugural year, 240 delegates attended over the course of one day. In 2020, MOVE took over the entire Pleasance Courtyard. Today the event attracts around 1,000 delegates and speakers over three days.

MOVE Summit 2025
19th – 21st February 2025
Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, EH8 9TJ
www.movesummit.co.uk

Instagram: https://instagram.com/movesummit
X: https://x.com/Move_Summit/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/25175937/
Tickets: https://ti.to/move-summit/move-summit-2025

Contact Details
Laura Scott
Operations Manager
info@movesummit.co.uk

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February 6, 2025

Scotland leads the way in animated film this February

Scotland leads the way in animated film this February with Manipulate Festival, MOVE SUMMIT, Glasgow Film Theatre and Glasgow Film Festival.

As Scotland’s international reputation as a leader in cinema goes from strength to strength, this February will see a great month for animated film take shape across the country, with exciting projects taking place at the anticipated Manipulate Festival (12 – 15 February, Edinburgh), MOVE SUMMIT (19 – 21 February, Edinburgh), Glasgow Film Theatre and Glasgow Film Festival (26 February – 9 March, Glasgow) – in addition to further events at Dundee Contemporary Arts and Skye Community Cinema.

Manipulate Festival

Embarking on its 18th festival edition, Manipulate Festival (Scotland’s annual celebration of international and UK animated film, puppetry, and visual theatre) will return to Edinburgh for a lively four-day programme including 3 short film programmes, 2 feature films, 2 Open Studios, 15 live works and installations, and 6 workshops, running Wednesday 12 – Saturday 15 February 2025 across some of the city’s most cherished arts venues.

In animation highlights, Manipulate Festival will screen the first ever stop-motion title to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival (2009) A Town Called Panic (Panique Au Village), in addition to three curated international shorts programmes – From ‘La Fantasmagorie’ to the Future, a retrospective of French and Francophone animated cinema from the first animated cartoon in 1908 through to the present day; On the Edge, a programme of animated shorts from the circumpolar north, highlighting the relationship of communities in the very north of our planet to a changing climate, co-curated with Take One Action Festivals; and Queer Stories, a showcase of the very best LGBTQAI+ animated stories from around the world, curated in partnership with Sanctuary Queer Arts.

The festival-favourite travelling cinema for one – ‘One Bum Cinema Club’ – will also return this year, showcasing a selection of acclaimed international family-friendly shorts in an 8-week tour of Edinburgh libraries from 30 January.

MOVE Summit

Also coming to Edinburgh is MOVE Summit 2025, taking place 19 – 21 February 2025 at The Pleasance.

MOVE brings together all sectors of the UK animation/CGI industry, from 2D & 3D animation to VFX and AR / VR, covering all media including film, TV, advertising, and games. The annual conference will showcase some of the best current work across the industry, offering a place for industry leaders, practitioners, and technology providers to connect, be inspired, and learn in the heart of Edinburgh’s creative capital.

Spanning 3 days, MOVE Summit 2025 will host a series of keynote talks, workshops, creative reviews, screenings, demos, networking, and parties – all to celebrate the joy of ‘making things move’. This year’s keynote speakers include Framestore Visualisation Supervisor Chris McDonald, who’ll discuss his work on Jon M. Chu’s critically acclaimed Wicked; and Pixar Lead Editor Maurissa Horwitz, who will offer a peek behind-the-scenes of Inside Out 2. Delegates will also be treated to ‘The Animated Life of Mike Mitchell’, with the man himself talking us through his incredible career working on some of the biggest films in the world; and Renfrewshire-born James Hodgart (Walt Disney Animation Studios) will speak about his journey in 3D environments, including his recent work on Moana 2.

The full conference programme is expected to be revealed within the coming week, with details on currently confirmed guest speakers already available on the MOVE Summit website.

Glasgow Film Theatre

Glasgow’s iconic home for independent cinema, Glasgow Film Theatre will also show two animated films by Oscar-winning animation writer and director Adam Elliot from 14 February – 20 February.

Winner of the Best Film award at last year’s BFI London Film Festival, and nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, Memoir of a Snail is a poignant, heartfelt, hilarious chronicle of the life of an outsider finding her confidence and silver linings amongst the clutter of everyday life. A love letter to misfits everywhere, the film boasts an all-star cast including Sarah Snook (Succession), Kodi Smit-Mcphee (The Power of the Dog), Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook) and a memorable guest appearance by Nick Cave.

To celebrate this new release, Glasgow Film Theatre will also screen Elliot’s captivating first feature film, Mary and Max. A story spanning 20 years and two continents, Adam Elliot’s debut explores the unlikely pen-pal relationship between two very different people: Mary Dinkle (Toni Collette), a chubby, lonely 8-year-old living in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia; and Max Horovitz (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), a severely obese, 44-year-old Jewish man with Asperger’s Syndrome, living in the chaos of New York City.

Glasgow Film Festival

Running 26 February – 9 March, the Glasgow Film Festival will bring their talent development scheme ‘Animatic’ to the capital – a major industry initiative that supports Scotland-based creatives and studios in developing their animated feature film, series, or short film ideas for an international audience. Nine projects from Scotland-based creatives will take part in a six-month training programme including workshops, one-to-one meetings, and pitching training delivered by executives from leading animation and screen organisations, such as Aardman, Netflix, BBC, Paramount – Nickelodeon & Milkshake!, Mackinnon & Saunders, Annecy Festival’s MIFA Talent, Jellyfish Pictures, Sky Kids, Blink Industries, Screen Scotland, Warner Bros Discovery, Bang 2 Write, Wild Child Animation and My SMASH Media.

Participating in ‘Animatic’ this year are British Animation Award-winning animator Iain Gardner, whose film A Bear Named Wojtek was shortlisted for the 2025 Academy Awards for Animated Short Film, who will be developing his family-friendly sitcom, Badger Beats, starring gay badgers Mustard & Ketchup; and BAFTA and BIFA-nominated screenwriter Hannah Kelso, who will be developing her adult animated comedy series Overlords, which follows a family of shapeshifting reptilians on a secret mission to enslave the human race.

Dundee Contemporary Arts

In Dundee, DCA’s February cinema programme will welcome a series of award-winning animation. Family audiences will be able to enjoy The Red Turtle and The Wild Robot – both with their own special ticket offers – whilst older animated film fans can explore Ghost Cat Anzu and the Oscar nominated Memoir of a Snail.

Skye Community Cinema

On the Isle of Skye, Friday 7 February, Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail will also be shown in the Skye Community Cinema as part of their February programme, and will be accompanied by a short film by Scottish animator Cat Bruce and a post-show discussion.

Manipulate Festival:
https://www.manipulatearts.co.uk

Move Summit:
https://www.movesummit.co.uk

Glasgow Film Theatre:
https://www.glasgowfilm.org/movie/memoir-of-a-snail
https://www.glasgowfilm.org/movie/mary-and-max-introduction

Glasgow Film Festival:
https://www.glasgowfilmfest.org/animatic

Dundee Contemporary Arts:
https://www.dca.org.uk

Skye Community Cinema:
https://www.instagram.com/skyefilms.scot

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January 28, 2025

Manipulate Festival announces programme for its 18th edition in extraordinary times for Scottish arts and culture

Manipulate Festival will take a different shape in 2025, centering artist development and facing up to the pressures and challenges in the industry in light of this extraordinary moment for Scottish arts and culture.

Clockwise from left: Promotional image for Elke; Still from Saul Freed and Karni Arieli’s short film, Wild Summon; Auntie Empire, credit: Michaela Bodlovic; Still from These Things Aren’t Mine, credit: Barney White

Wednesday 12 February – Saturday 15 February 2025

Scotland’s Festival of animated film, puppetry and visual theatre returns for a four-day event across Edinburgh from Wednesday 12 to Saturday 15 February 2025

The Festival will feature 15 live works and installations by artists practising in Scotland, 3 short film programmes, 2 feature films, 2 Open Studios, and 6 public and industry workshops

Manipulate Festival will form new collaborations with Sanctuary Queer Arts and Take One Action Film Festivals, and will also bring back its popular One Bum Cinema Club, in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council Libraries

Manipulate Festival will pop up in renowned Edinburgh venues including the Traverse Theatre, The Studio at Festival Theatre, the French Institute of Scotland, Fruitmarket and Dance Base

Manipulate Arts – Scotland’s home for animation, puppetry and visual theatre – will see the 18th edition of the Manipulate Festival run across a bespoke four day programme from Wednesday 12 – Saturday 15 February 2025.

The Festival remains a home for live performance, installation and film works which are driven forward primarily by image rather than text, or which breathe life into the inanimate. This can include physical theatre, animated film, object theatre, mime, circus theatre, puppetry, dance theatre and installation work.

Manipulate Festival 2025 will put artists at its heart, building on the Festival’s commitment to nurture homegrown and international artistic talent, providing support, development and community building against the current backdrop of extraordinary times for the arts. World Premiere productions, and short and feature-length films, will sit alongside works-in-progress, in addition to the sharing of new works made possible by bursaries supported by the Festival.

Across four days, audiences will have the chance to get up close to the nuts and bolts of visual performance through a bespoke programme which explores themes of play and degrowth, asking urgent questions of the industry and its future. Doing things differently in challenging times for the cultural sector, and inspiring conversations about degrowth and sustainability, the Festival invites audiences to join their community of artists to rediscover magic on stage.

Dawn Taylor, Artistic Director & CEO of Manipulate Arts said: “Given the extraordinary moment we are currently facing in the Scottish arts sector, with stagnating funding levels, spiralling costs, and many Scottish artists struggling to make ends meet, it felt critical to take a different approach to our festival in 2025. We are proud to be investing this year in Scottish artists and in the future of our creative community, and are excited to welcome our audiences back to rediscover with us the joy and elemental magic of these visual artforms.

We look forward to inspiring conversation throughout this festival, which takes a serious look at new and sustainable ways of working together, while still transporting audiences to new and exciting worlds through the magic of animation, puppetry and visual theatre.

Manipulate Festival will ask fundamental questions about the world that we inhabit together, in light of the moment we find ourselves in.”

Live performance

Award-winning ensemble Groupwork will present a daring new piece of physical theatre, When Prophecy Fails at The Studio at Festival Theatre. Following 2019 Fringe First-winning The Afflicted and 2022’s Imaginate commission The Hope River Girls, Groupwork brings their signature blend of explosive physical and visual storytelling to this thrilling exploration of belief and disillusionment at the intersection between UFOs, cultish devotion, and the chaotic power of faith.

In a new collaboration between Scottish Ensemble and puppeteering company Blind Summit, the Festival will present The Law of Gravity at the Traverse Theatre. Following their successful partnership with the LA Philharmonic Orchestra where they brought the folk tale of Peter and the Wolf to life at the Hollywood Bowl, Blind Summit and Scottish Ensemble pair up to explore the boundaries of their mediums.

Returning for 2025, the Festival’s long-established showcase of work-in-progress (Snapshots) will take place at The Studio at Festival Theatre. The line-up for Snapshots includes; Disaster Plan and Jordan and Skinner’s Auntie Empire, Voyager by Ruxy Cantir (Pickled Republic, Manipulate 2024) and Sarah Rose Graber, The Pathetic Planet by Romi and Dale, Nightmares by Craig McCulloch and Arlington, a developing work from dance company Shotput – last seen at the Festival in 2023.

The Festival will showcase six new works-in-progress in Cartography, a labyrinthian event taking over the Fruitmarket Warehouse. Every 13 minutes, an intimate audience will be guided on an entrancing, captivating adventure through highly interactive encounters – each distinct, yet adding to an appreciation of the whole. Cartography has been created by Eilidh Appletree, Fibi Cowley, Kirsty May Hamilton, Edith Hicks, Kialy Tihngang and Alys Williams – participants on the Waypoint-1 mentorship project, supported by Al Seed Productions.

In partnership with Surge, the Festival will bring two new works-in-progress as part of its annual Double Bill to the Traverse Theatre. The life of pioneering lichenologist and trans woman Elke Mackenzie is told through micro-cinema, drag, cabaret and music in Elke by Sarah Farrell; while in Ratkin, by Ruben San Roman, we meet a mutant species of rodent humanoids in a fast-paced cautionary tale featuring slapstick, projection and acrobatic choreography.

Film programme

Written in collaboration with former gymnast turned circus artist Gabbie Cook, These Things Aren’t Mine follows a circus artist whose world is turned upside down by a mundane encounter, which triggers a series of unnerving events. A fictional story based on real events, the film is a visceral, abstract and emotive exploration into the psyche of an ex-child athlete living with PTSD and hyper vigilance. The Scottish Premiere of the film at the Traverse Theatre will be followed by a Q&A hosted by Emily Nicholl.

The Festival will team up with Take One Action Film Festivals to present On the Edge, a selection of animated short films, which focus on climate in parts of the world that are considered to have Arctic boundaries by water, land or region. It also joins up with Sanctuary Queer Arts to present a programme of Queer Stories, animated short films which speak to queer identities and queer bodies. These programmes will take place at The French Institute of Scotland.

On Valentine’s Day (14 February), the Festival presents a stimulating double bill at The French Institute of Scotland. From La Fantasmagorie to the Future allows audiences to travel from the first animated cartoon in 1908 through to some of the most innovative filmmakers working in the present day. It will play before a retrospective screening of the 2000s hit animation, A Town Called Panic (Panique Au Village). Premiering in 2009, it was the first stop-motion title to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival.

One Bum Cinema Club makes an exciting return to the festival with its pop-up series of animation for just one audience member at a time. Appearing across selected City of Edinburgh Council Libraries, audiences will be able to lose themselves in three programmes of animated shorts for an entirely free 3-minute break from the outside world. Extending beyond the confines of the festival, One Bum Cinema Club will tour for eight weeks.

Open Studios and Workshops

Strengthening their commitment to artist support and development in light of wider sector challenges for freelance artists, Manipulate Arts have re-directed some festival funds to directly support Scottish artists in the creation of new work in the fields of animation, puppetry and visual theatre. These works hope to run at future editions of Manipulate Festival, with these bursaries allowing much-needed funded space and time for research and R&D. Supported artists are at a critical juncture in their practice whereby they are asking key questions about their work and survival in the arts sector in the UK.

Manipulate Festival audiences will be invited into the creation process through the new Open Studios strand, allowing them to peek behind the curtain at what it takes to develop new, innovative work for the stage, and to play with visual performance techniques themselves.

Inspired by the camera-less photographic technique of cyanotype and playing with shadow-puppetry, Dusk till Dawn invites audiences to brush up against nocturnal creatures, fungi, plants, and natural forces. Taking place at The Studio at Festival Theatre, the team will welcome audiences into an intimate space to explore what happens when day turns to night through striking imagery and light play. Scottish/English/Hungarian puppetry company Hopeful Monsters will undertake research and development on this new work, supported by Capital Theatres through Open@TheStudio.

A connection forged between two artists in Scotland and Lebanon respectively, I Might Not Make It explores what a shared space for rest might look like. Making space at Dance Base, Scotland based theatre-practitioner Liz Strange and Lebanese dance artist Sarah Fadel are set to explore the challenges of creating rest spaces in survival contexts—spaces that, by their nature, may not be safe for rest, reflecting the intricate realities of these lived experiences. Supported in partnership with Dance Base, Edinburgh.

And finally, Manipulate Festival’s industry-facing workshop strand will return, with workshops from artists including Emma Jayne Park (Gather, Grow and Ground and Mapping Degrowth Futures), Mamoru Iriguchi and Fergus Dunnet (So You Think A Puppet Could Tell Your Story Better Than Yourself? Exploring Dramaturgy in Puppetry), Gavin Glover (Micro Cinema Techniques) and Gabbie Cook (Acrodance). Anthony Scragg welcomes artists and audiences alike into public-facing workshop, ChaosPlay.

Tickets for the 2025 festival are on sale on Manipulate Arts’ website from Tuesday 3 December at 12pm www.manipulatearts.co.uk.

Twitter – @ManipulateArts
Facebook – @ManipulateArtsScot
Instagram – @manipulatearts

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December 17, 2024

A Bear Named Wojtek makes shortlist for 97th Oscars®

Some 80 animated short films qualified for consideration as Best Animated Short Film at the 97th Academy Awards®.

Five films have now progressed to the short list, including the UK/Polish co-production of A BEAR NAMED WOJTEK, produced by Illuminated Films, Filmograf and Animation Garden. The final five nominees will be announced on 17th January 2025.

The 28-minute film tells the true story of a bear, adopted by Polish soldiers during the Second World War, that played a legendary role at the battle of Monte Cassino before they end up as Polish refugees in Scotland after the war. The director, Iain Gardner, an Edinburgh resident, was inspired by the fact that Wojtek the bear spent the last years of its life at Edinburgh Zoo and researched the details of Wojtek’s incredible journey.

A Bear Named Wojtek won Best Long Form Animation at the British Animation Awards and Best Animation at the Venice TV Awards among others.

Director Iain Gardner comments ‘It’s testimony to our amazing crew – over a hundred of them, from script to final grade, that we’ve accomplished this stage of the Academy Award® process. Everybody involved with the film elevated my vision, making the final film greater than the sum of its parts. Thank you to everyone who has been on this journey with me.’

The co-producer, Iain Harvey of Illuminated Films, comments ‘the story is truly inspirational, symbolizing so many elements of life, the realities of war and the profound importance of relationships. With a beautiful score by Normand Roger, its impact on audiences has been very gratifying and hopefully justifies the support we have received from Screen Scotland, Polish Film Institute, and the BFI Young Audience Content Fund.’

Co-producer Wlodzimierz Matuszewski of Filmograf comments ‘what a great honour for the unforgettable bear Wojtek, symbolizing the fate of Poland in the 20th century. Fully deserved for the creative effort of the great animation artist Iain Gardner, and exceptional creative synergy between British and Polish teams!’

A Bear Named Wojtek is a Wojtek Animation Limited production, co-produced by Filmograf and The Illuminated Film Company. Internationally, the series is being represented by Illuminated Films. Press pack is available on request.

Press contacts:

The Illuminated Film Company: nick@illuminatedfilms.com +44 7843 982 482

Iain Gardner: iain@animation-garden.com +44 7719 831 429

Filmograf: wlodek.matuszewski@gmail.com

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April 17, 2024

Stirling Studios announced

Stirling Council has announced the creation of Stirling Studios.

Stirling Studios will be among the biggest film studio campuses in Scotland and pave the way for thousands of high-skilled jobs as well as major economic benefits.

Stirling Council Chief Executive Carol Beattie is confident about the future success of the studios, which will be located on the former MoD land at Forthside, as she identified that the site and buildings could fit well with the needs in the sector.

She said: “In a previous role as Director of Creative Industries for Scottish Development International, I knew there was still an opening for more production space in Scotland. At that point, I spent time in London speaking to the British Film Commission and studio operators such as Pinewood, Three Mills and Warner Brothers to understand the specifications of a good site.

“When I saw the unique buildings and location at Forthside, I considered it to be a fantastic fit, which has since been confirmed through our close consultation with the industry, including Screen Scotland.”

Read full press release

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