Countdown to the Millenium: Puttnam to film a 'life experience'

LORD PUTTNAM, the Labour peer and producer of Chariots of Fire and Midnight Express, is to make a movie for the Dome, with the help of Robert LePage, the avant-garde Canadian director, and Richard Eyre, former artistic director of the Royal National Theatre.

Puttnam, "godparent" of the Learning Zone, plans his nine-minute project as one of the centrepieces of the "cradle to grave" education exhibit. The Oscar-winning producer is overseeing the design work in the zone. He recently flew to Canada to consult LePage, whose work includes Le Confessional, starring Lothaire Bluteau. Sources close to the Dome say a director has not yet been found.

Puttnam said: "To call it a film would be inaccurate. It is a filmed 'life experience'. Hopefully you will go in there and will watch it for the nine or so minutes it runs and come out a better person. Robert LePage is one of number of people whose advice I have sought. I have also asked Richard Eyre for advice."

The Learning Zone will also display a "school of the future" and a forest-like exhibit.

The zone will focus on five key themes: lifelong learning, the encouragement of new ideas, the importance of technology, meeting Government education targets and a lasting legacy. It is sponsored by Tesco, which is donating pounds 12m.