TWO talented youngsters are one step closer to achieving their dream careers in the film industry after winning top awards and meeting a Hollywood superstar.
Caistor Grammar School pupils Grace Howe and Steven Boden, both 15, met Oscar winner Jim Broadbent when he presented them with their prizes in the LAFTAs (Local Awards for Film, Teamwork and Achievement) in Lincoln.
Grace, from Grimsby, took the Best Overall Film award for her movie depicting a young Victorian girl who is wrongly imprisoned in a mental asylum.
She said: "I wanted to highlight the harsh mistreatment of the hundreds of young women who were forced into these asylums against their will.
"For me, film is a way of expressing myself. It's a great method of communication as it has a wide audience, and it is a way for me to showcase my talents in designing and making clothes as well as my technical ability and my passion for telling stories. I find it is the most powerful way of conveying my art and an enjoyable creative process."
Grace, who said it was an "incredible privilege" to meet Jim, added: "I hope to qualify to go to Central Saint Martin's art university in London, where I can follow in the footsteps of so many great artists and designers, and continue with my two great passions; fashion and film-making."
Steven, from Cleethorpes, won the LAFTAs Patron's Award for his film about a young boy who is cursed when he does not recycle his newspaper.
He added: "I watched a lot of videos on YouTube when I was younger so I decided to make a video for myself. From then on, I have gone onto making short films using proper cameras and equipment that me and my friends have invested in and we now make them seriously on our YouTube channel, VFXcreations.
"Meeting Jim has to be one of the best things in my life. Meeting such an iconic actor was one of the best feelings in the world."
Steven hopes to continue making short films with the aim of one day fulfilling his ambition of working in the movie industry.
