A TALENTED Colchester filmmaker is celebrating after his silver screen debut was selected out of thousands of entries to be screened at a Bafta Award qualifying film festival.
Written by Former Gilberd School and Colchester Sixth Form College student Liam Wilson, This Is English will be shown at Aesthetica Short Film Festival in York next month.
Featuring more than 450 films created by some of the brightest talents in the industry, each-year the best movies from the prestigious festival have a chance of making it to the final Bafta selection for Best British Short Film.
Mr Wilson said: "My day job is as a copywriter for an advertising agency. I have always been around film sets but this is the first time I have written something just for a bit of fun."
Comedy short This Is English follows a group of "violent grammar pedants" as they attempt to put a stop to the incorrect use of the English language.
It stars TV actors Jack Doolan, who played Detective Constable Mark Travis in ITV's Marcella, The Inbetweeners' David Schaal and Hitman's Bodyguard star Donna Preston.
Mr Wilson says his inspiration came partly from his love of the English language and partly after watching Danny Boyle's long-awaited sequel Trainspotting 2, which was released in 2017.
"I had just watched the film and the idea came about thinking 'what if Begbie from those movies got angry about spelling mistakes'," he said.
"I wouldn't say I am a grammar pedant myself but when I see errors with things like the wrong use of your or you're it does irk me.
"I was on holiday and I was bored as I had run out of books to read, so I decided to have a go at writing it."
The 28-year-old used his contacts in the industry to bring in directing duo Joe Beverley and Sam Hurlock, known together as ThatJam, as well as get producers on board to help him put together the movie.
Mr Wilson said: "We pulled together with everything including finding actors.
"I got my girlfriend, who is a fashion stylist, to do the wardrobe for the film. Everyone was doing it for the love of it.
"I wasn't planning to put it in for festivals, I just wanted to make a short film, but people told me to give it a go."
And so far the cinema world has been impressed.
As well as the Aesthetica Short Film Festival, This Is English will also be played at the London Short Series Festival and The Discover Film Awards.
Mr Walsh, who now lives in London, said: "When I got the emails saying the film made it, it was quite exciting.
"Obviously it would be great to make to it through to the Bafta's but hopefully the festival will help me meet people who let me write more.
"I would love to get into comedy writing. I have a few ideas knocking about for sitcoms and hopefully I will have a chance to write them.
"I have a taste for it now and I would like to write a few more."
For more information about the Aesthetica Short Film Festival, visit asff.co.uk.
You can follow This is English on Instagram @thisisenglishfilm.
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