"RODIN looked at a block of stone and knew that the sculpture was already there. It was just his job to realise it.

"I believe it's like that with film-making. There are some stories that are there to be realised."

So says film-maker Erik Knudsen, who has chosen as his base a town not best-known for its movie world glamour.

East Lancashire seems an unlikely home for a film director and writer but the Bacup countryside provides Erik Knudsen with just the creative stimulus he needs. Erik, born in 1956 to a Danish father and Ghanaian mother, has been writing and directing since he graduated in film production from York University, Toronto.

He moved to Britain in 1984 and has been living with his wife in Bacup for seven years, often commuting to London and Manchester.

"I had never really been to the North of England until I met my wife but I like the rough hilly countryside of the Bacup region and it is a quiet place to work," he said. "There is something spiritual about film-making. There are certain styles and themes which need realising and my films are always very personal to me.

"I think of myself first and foremost as an explorer of the human psyche and film is my exploration tool."

Erik's first film - One Day Tafo - was commissioned by the Danish Film Board and was shot in Ghana and Denmark. It won Erik a bronze award at the Houston Film Festival in 1991.

He followed this up with a poetic documentary in 1994 entitled Reunion. He has half a dozen short films and a collection of fringe stage productions are also to his credit.

"I am mainly influenced by continental film-makers but I was recently in the States and I saw some very interesting emerging American work," Erik said. "People often think that films in America are just Hollywood but there are so many smaller film makers around too." He is working on a new theatrical feature film entitled Valance, about a political speech writer who has to return home to his seriously ill son. He is also the director of the Lancashire Film and Video Summer School, which is being held from July 7 to 11 at Alston Hall, Preston.

"Britain in general is weak at film-making and the North West is a particularly weak area," he said. "This is the reason for holding the summer school. It gives like-minded people interested in films the chance to meet.

"The school is not about knobs, equipment and how to point a camera. It's for directors and artists and we're looking at the creative side."

Emerging director and writers with some experience who would like to participate should send a CV to The Director, Lancashire Film and Video Summer School, Erik Knudsen Films, 4 Gordon Street, Bacup, Lancashire OL13 8DH, or telephone 01706 876798.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.