By Fiona Cooper

A film tackling the isolation of deafness and starring Four Weddings and a Funeral actor David Bower has been produced by a former Sittingbourne schoolboy.

Chris Colton, who went to Borden Grammar School, is one of the two producers behind the micro-budget film Little Voices.

The 29-year-old, who lived with his family in Kemsley until earlier this year, has produced the film alongside fellow Screen Academy Wales student Glen Biesker.

The script, written by a third student, Chris McFall, and telling the tale of a bereaved and isolated deaf man struggling to cope with losing his partner, was sent to Mr Bower by Mr Colton.

He contacted the actor through his company Signdance Collective, asking him to play the lead role.

Mr Colton said: "After reading the script, David contacted me to express an interest in the project.

"We met to discuss the film and he was impressed with the script and research, telling us that of the many scripts he has read regarding deaf people, Little Voices was the best."

The film - the result of research into pre-linguistic deafness by the three postgraduate students - was shot in one week in Cardiff, and is now in post-production.

Mr Colton, whose father Paul is partially deaf, said it had been a stressful and challenging time but he was very happy with the results so far.

He said: "I think it looks outstanding."

The trio of postgraduate film students from the University of Glamorgan now plan to organise a number of showings in South Wales before taking Little Voices on the European and UK film festival circuit.

If successful, they hope to make it into a feature film for general release.

They also plan to show Little Voices in schools to increase awareness of hearing impediments. Mr Colton said: "It's essential that young people are made aware of hearing impediments.

"Having David on board has allowed us to consider other further options when preparing the film for its release, and we hope it will inspire younger deaf people to produce films in the future."

Mr Colton is due to finish his Masters degree course in February, and from there hopes to get work in the film industry as a producer, ultimately setting up his own production company.