Method of manufacturing filler-containing polymer film suitable for printing on

A process for producing a pigmented, printable, biaxially oriented polymer film having one or more layers, by

• (a) extruding a melt comprising a mixture of at least one crystallizable film-forming polymer, pigments, fillers, or both pigments and fillers, and optionally an additive, through one or more slot dies;
• (b) allowing the extruded melt to solidify into a primary film having pigments, fillers, or both pigments and fillers, embedded therein while controlling the temperature and thickness of the resultant primary film to a degree of crystallization required for subsequent processing;
• (c) biaxially orienting the primary film in longitudinal and transverse directions, either in sequence one after the other or simultaneously;
• and
• (d) cooling, thereby obtaining a biaxially oriented film having one or more layers, wherein a temperature of the primary film is controlled prior to step (c) in a range between the primary film's solidifying point and a temperature required for biaxial orientation process step (c) in such a manner that the primary film is never cooled to a temperature below that required for biaxial orientation and the interval between solidification and biaxial orientation is selected such that crystallization of the film-forming polymer between the embedded particles of filler and pigment is essentially concluded before the orientation process.