OVER the years, the Broadway Cinema has hosted UK premieres of some of the world's biggest films.

It rolled out the red carpet once again yesterday – this time for Nottingham's own young film-makers.

Around 100 schoolchildren from across the city had their work screened as part of the first Young Screenwriters Festival.

Pupils from nine schools spent months scripting and filming their movies based on ghost and horror stories from children's author Alan Gibbons' book, Dark Spaces.

Year 6 pupils at Bentinck Primary School in Radford were in the audience to watch their film, based on Mr Gibbon's short story, The Flea Market.

Bailey Kinch, 11, of Highbury Vale, played lead character Craig.

He said: "The plot was that I popped my football and I had to go into school to get another one. The school was haunted though and there were ghosts inside, so I had to get the ball and get out of there.

"I really liked acting and filming."

Co-star Gugulethu Moyo, 10, of Aspley, played Lydia.

She said: "I had to boss Bailey around and tell him to go into the school."

Lucas Young, 11, a pupil at Claremont Primary School in Sherwood Rise, helped to write the script for his school's vampire film Despair of the Slayer.

He said: "I've learned that it's hard to write a script and to turn it into a film.

"I think acting is really fun and I want to be an actor now."

The Young Screenwriters project gave pupils the chance to work with professional filmmakers to produce their films.

Author Mr Gibbons was in the audience to see the children's efforts.

He said: "I have never had youngsters do their own interpretations based on my work before and I couldn't wait to see the results. I think they are absolutely brilliant.

"I visited a couple of the schools and the imagination and enthusiasm of the kids was superb."

Professional screenwriter Jamie Rhodes, of Donkey Stone Films based at the Broadway Cinema, has worked with the pupils on their films since January.

He said: "They all had some dead wacky ideas – like wanting to film hundreds of people in battles. I had to get them to think more about creating tension through their writing and telling their story visually.

"The films are all really high end productions and they look very cinematic. Some of the kids were really good actors and others have fascinating imaginations."

Steve Little, education and training leader at Broadway Cinema, said: "It's a really powerful thing for these children to see their own work on the big screen.

"We pride ourselves on the quality of production."

Other films written and made by the young people during the young screenwriters project will be shown at the cinema until Thursday.

For more information, visit www.youngscreenwriters.com