Winning the audience's hearts helped a short film by a budding film-maker win a top prize at a national awards.

Film and TV student at Stanmore College Chris McCarthy won the Best Film at the BFI (British Film Institute) Film Academy awards.

Mr McCarthy applied to join the BFI academy to get hands-on skills and experience in a series of workshops over eight weeks.

He won for his film, which focuses on the life of a character called Phil, who was at his lowest and then met the love of his life.

The audience voted Mr McCarthy’s film as best of the evening at a screening last week.