A FILM-MAKER has been capturing the best of York life on camera as he creates a new film for The Press’ York Means Business campaign.

Christopher David, of York-based Flash Frame Productions, wants to help attract vital investment – and new jobs – to the city by showing businessmen why they should re-locate their companies and families to the city.

The film will provide vital new ammunition for York and North Yorkshire’s inward investment board, york-england.com, in its continuing battle to attract new employment to the area at a time of global recession and rising unemployment.

Christopher revealed today how he has spent days filming at different locations across the city as he seeks to rebut the southern stereotype of a northern city, and show why it is such a great place in which to invest and live.

He said: “I’ve been filming in some beautiful, beautiful houses, with swimming pools and Jacuzzis, which are on the market for a half to a third of the cost of similar properties at Henley on Thames or in Surrey. I want to dispel the myth about this being a place full of back-to-back terraces.

“I have filmed up at the university, showing the £500 million extension to the campus, and at St Peter’s School and will be filming at the new York High School.

“I have filmed people chilling out in the Museum Gardens and people rowing on the river – all with a blue sky background.”

He said he had also tried to capture the continental feel of parts of the city centre, with its pavement cafés and spent three days at York Racecourse to show some of the recreational activities on offer in York. He would also be interviewing Nestlé boss David Rennie today. The film is set to be completed by September.

York.england.com’s chief executive, Denise Stuart, who will be able to send the DVD out to any businesses considering moving to the region, has hailed it as an invaluable tool in raising the city’s profile and highlighting its attractiveness as a business location.

Christopher, who has previously made a powerful anti-joyriding film for The Press’s Live Now, Drive Later campaign, said he is making the new film because he believes in the York Means Business message equally as passionately.

The campaign aims to highlight the positives in the York economy and support the business community during the recession.