Live Cinema EU will for the first time, bring together international leaders in creating live cinema events (film screenings enhanced with live music, theatrical performance or increased audience participation), to explore whether audience size for European films can be increased through the development of live elements at film screenings as part of core festival programming. Live cinema projects in the UK now constitute a vital part of the film exhibition economy, with almost 50% of exhibitors creati live cinema events as demonstrated by Live Cinema UK’s forthcoming (May 2016) research funded by Arts Council England Grants for the Arts. Examples include the Royal Albert Hall’s regular live soundtrack events to films such as Interstellar, The Godfather and Alien, and Secret Cinema’s immserive productions including Star Wars: Return of the Jedi which grossed over £6 million in summer 2015. This project aims to replicate the success of such success across Europe, utilising European films.Three European film festival partners, plus Hull 2017 UK City of Culture, will work with Live Cinema UK, King’s College London and the University of Brighton over a 1 year period in the area of live cinema. The participating festivals demonstrate a history of exciting screening locations and live soundtrack events, but have never engaged internationally with the concept of live cinema. Utilising international learning from the UK, we will work to develop the Live Cinema EU programme, consisting of:• 3 workshop/seminars in host countries to establish the current scope of live cinema events in that country, with visiting experts from the UK, to inspire programming ideas and cross-country learning. • Four final new live cinema events based on European films; one in each host country plus Hull, UK City of Culture 2017