By Hayley Robinson

A film about the trials of children in foster care won three awards at a US film festival.

Hell’s Pavement, written by Keith Gorman, of School Lane, Borden, was nominated for Best Feature film at the four-day Beloit International Film Festival in Wisconsin.

But it did better than anyone expected when Mr Gorman and his team walked away with The Josh Burton Award of Excellence – the equivalent of the Palm d’Or Award at Cannes – the Ken Hendrick People’s Award, which is voted for by the festival’s audiences, and the emerging filmmaker’s grant of $2,000.

The film, which tells the story of an 11-year-old girl removed from the care of her mother, generated enormous interest among foster parents and social workers from more than 30 countries when it was first screened at the World Fostering Conference in Dublin last year. And, after an overwhelming demand to allow a wider audience to see the film, it was shown at The Lexi Cinema in London last November.

Mr Gorman, who invested £500,000 of his own money in the film, said: "It’s wildly exciting. There were 140 films shown at the festival and we walked away on the first day with not only the grant but also the Josh Burton Award which is a big award.

"Then we received the people’s award on the last day. People were given score cards to rate each film they saw and we came out on top!"

Mr Gorman was joined by his mum Brigidin, his wife Claire, actor Connor Byrne and the director Andy Kemp.

They met the festival’s main sponsor, film producer Diane Hendrick, who has worked on films such as Braveheart.

He said: "Diane spent time with us chatting about the film so that was a big thrill.

"Hell’s Pavement is my first film. I’ve already got one in the pipeline but I’m not going to talk about it at the moment."

To view a trailer of the film visit www.hellspavement.com