A young Cumbrian filmmaker is set to reunite with Steven Spielberg's military advisor once again on a follow-up World War One film.

Thomas Gardner, 26, found acclaim when he directed his WW1 short The Fronts of War which went on to win 18 international film awards in 11 countries during the 2022 film festival circuit including the Jury Award for Best Director at the Europe Film Festival in The Netherlands.

The new film, entitled The Prelude to War, is a prequel to The Fronts of War, set one year before the events depicted in the first film.

The Mail: Thomas Gardner alongside actors during filming for ‘The Fronts of War’Thomas Gardner alongside actors during filming for ‘The Fronts of War’ (Image: Submitted)

Written, produced and directed by Thomas, of Windermere, this film will be the second time working with Spielberg's military advisor Andy Robertshaw.

Andy is best known for working with Spielberg on War Horse as well as working on DC's Wonder Woman and Sam Mendes' Academy Award nominated 1917 which is also set during WW1.

Thomas said of working on the second film: “I'm absolutely thrilled to be working again with Andy and his team in Kent to produce another war film. Seeing their passion for what they do and the incredibly positive response we saw from the first film has ignited the fire in us to make a second one.

"This one is going to be even more dramatic than the first one, with more characters, story depth and run time”.

The film is set to begin production on location at the end of April in Maidstone, Kent, with the original cast returning to reprise their roles, with actress Katie-Jade Shaw taking the reigns for the role of Grace.

The rest of the film will be shot on location in the Lake District.