TAMWORTH – more than 1,000 years ago the unofficial Saxon capital of Britain – is ready to claim a new crown as the movie festival CAPITAL of the UK.

For the town’s Heart of England International Film Festival may not be Cannes yet – but even the glitterati set had to start somewhere.

And with more international movies being shown here than any other event in Britain this year, then Tamworth is heading for the big time from the small indie screen.

For one moment, let’s make a leap of faith across the English channel from the celeb fest world of Cannes to here in Tamworth – a town steeped in history, famous for the police force founder Sir Robert Peel and Thomas Guy, the man who built Guy’s hospital in London – but not until he’d erected our ancient town hall and the almshouses in Lower Gungate.

Well, Tamworth IS about to be put itself on the map in a world cinematic sense as the credits roll on great names from Hollywood in screening arenas far removed from the studio settings of Universal, Dreamworks, MGM or 20th Century Fox.

At the moment the town’s only claim to fame is Crust movie creator and music-based video genius Mark Locke.

So how is this new era possible?

This festival has a simple formula for bringing all independent movie life to a town backdrop – in FREE dawn-to-dusk viewing.

Film lovers in Tamworth and the neighbouring region won’t have to pay a single penny to see the greatest movie show on earth.

“The nicest thing about all this is the people of Tamworth will be able to pop into town and watch their movie heroes – for nothing,” said festival executive director Nick Hudson.

More than three quarters of the films submitted to the festival come from America and 90 per cent will be viewed for the first time as world premieres in this historic slice of middle England.

For this festival will has an A-list feel and will feature Oscar-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden, who won best supporting actress for her role in Pollock in 2000, is making her directorial debut in the film Home.

Another Academy winner - Timothy Hutton who holds the title of the youngest ever best supporting actor Oscar winner in Robert Redford’s first role as director in Ordinary People – is starring in the new film Broken Hill, directed by none other than Chris Wyatt who produced Napoleon Dynamite, consider the one of the best independent movies of all time.

A third Oscar bravo – the current best actress holder Kate Winslet - will be seen by festivalgoers in the first non-cinematic public screening of the code-breaking Enigma film, which is the story about Tamworth seaman Colin Grazier, in the town at the Castle Hotel on the evening of Wednesday June 10.

Our cover picture shows Kiefer Sutherland. The Golden Globe winner is on our festival nominations shortlist – starring in Susan Morgan Cooper’s new documentary An Unlikely Weapon, which also has cameo roles for Rod Steiger, Tracey Ullman and ex US president Bill Clinton.

Scriptwriter JF Lawton should need no introduction as he brings his English premiere of Jackson, starring Steve Guttenberg, to the Heart of England festival.

Some of the producer’s other credits include Under Siege and The Hunted – but he will always be remembered for taking a film called 3000 to the Sundance Festival – and seeing it turned into Pretty Woman to become Disney’s biggest grossing action movie of all-time, catapulting Julia Roberts to galatic stardom.

A superheroes theme is also running through the festival’s cast list of stars.

We’ve the father of Superman (John Schneider who played Johnathan Kent in the small screen version Smallville) in Justin Golding’s new movie The Gods Of Circumstance and the REAL son of Superman (Matt Reeve the 29-year-old offspring of the late Superman actor Christopher Reeve, who has written and directed a surfing documentary Over The Water with musical collaboration by George Harrison’s son Dhani.

Still on the superhero theme. The film My Horizon has 007 star Pierce Brosnan’s 25-year-old son, Sean in it along with another Golden Globe winner Nick Nolte and his son Brawley.

That’s four stars’ sons in a brace of movies for the festival – a global cinematic first for the Tamworth festival.

“It’s the only festival to bring new movies from the sons of old stars,” added Hudson

The ‘Oscars’ night – the festival is presenting Heartys at its gala awards banquet on the Friday night – will see another superhero in Midlands actor Jeremy Bulloch.

The star of three Bond movies, as Q’s assistant, and bounty hunter Boba Fett in the Star Wars trilogy will be one of the special guests presenting one of 24 awards – with best film, documentary, feature film, young film maker and Tamworth Tinseltown Award up for grabs.

The festival’s charity film premiere Radio Cape Cod stars Tamzin Outhwaite – no stranger to British TV audiences as star of EastEnders, Hotel Babylon and Red Cap.

As the Saturday festival finale approaches, organisers are hopeful of a sell-out.

Other associated activities in the week include workshops by film directors Justin Golding, Indira Somani and Michael Bergmann (whose first film starred Harrison’ Ford’s partner Calista Flockhart) at local schools and the Costa Coffee shop in George Street, Tamworth.

Tamworth’s film-makers, who have their own special night on the Wednesday, will be able to rub shoulders with their LA-based peers.

This festival has its roots in the Hollywood dream team of Amritsa - dedicated to helping unearth the next generation of video and film makers.

“Through film production and distribution, we want to create an era with a new world view and surely this can only broaden and enrich each human experience,” said Amritsa boss Binda Singh.

He started his festival ‘supply chain’ empire in 2006 with the Swansea Bay event – the area rich in screen heritage through the likes of Richard Burton, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta Jones, Russell T Davies and critically-acclaimed Brian Clough bio pic The Damned United movie star Michael Sheen. He saw no better place for such an event than his home city of Swansea.

From humble beginnings, the south Wales-based festival has developed and grown.

The Swansea event now boasts a star-studded celebrity line-up in terms of endorsement. Zeta Jones is now its patron, Victor Spinetti is founding patron and Sheen (who also played Tony Blair in Helen Mirren’s The Queen) its vice-president.

The Swansea festival has more than 25 categories and each has its own ‘Tinny’ award.

Its success has also given birth to similar festivals in other countries, also launched by Singh.

America (Los Angeles), Egypt (Cairo), South Africa (Peter Maritzburg), Thailand (Patang), Ireland (Galway) has now spawned our very own Heart of England International.

New festival executive director Nick Hudson believes anything Cannes can do, Tamworth can certainly do better.

“Tamworth’s historic past is awesome but thanks to town expansion in the 1970s and 1980s, it also has an exciting future which the whole planet will now to hear about through this festival,” he said.

“I want the event – inextricably linked to the region - to boldy go where they’ve never gone before.”

“Tamworth has a big heart – ranked alongside the engine room and capital of British endeavour in Birmingham,” he added.

“Now I want to see it remembered as the cinematic capital of the UK – and who knows to movie infinity and beyond.”