A FILM by a Kent student has been chosen for the Cannes Film Festival.

Derek Boyes, 32, of Talbot Road, Allington, entered his graduation film The Happiness Thief, a 14 minute short about a sinister child-catcher figure who sneaks into children's bedrooms and sucks their happiness with a straw.

The film which cost £14,000 to make is one of three British student films chosen for the festival which runs until Sunday on the Cote D'Azur. It was entered for a Cinefondation award which has a first prize of £15,000. Judging takes place tomorrow.

Derek, a former pupil of Maplesden Noakes School, Great Buckland, Maidstone, said: "It's brilliant news. Cannes is a fantastic stamp of approval for any film."

Derek has been making films from the age of 12, practising with friends in Allington quarry.

He said: "A few of us would go down to Allington quarry and blow things up, experimenting with latex and fake blood and capturing it all on a VHS camera. Then I started adding a narrative. It was great for learning the basics of film-making.

“I had to bribe people out of bed at 9 o'clock on a Sunday morning. I persuaded them to swing on ropes and wear papier mache alien heads in return for Pot Noodles.

"With The Happiness Thief I've basically come full-circle. It's the kind of emotionally-driven escapism that I was trying to capture all those years ago.”

Derek went on to study media production at Northumberland University and gained an MA from the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield before working as an assistant on Sleepy Hollow, Ideal Husband and Gosford Park.