Over 500 teachers and students at an innovative high school in Warrington, England, combined talents to make a full-length feature film in eight months on a budget of about $11,700-$13,600 (£6000-£7000). Local businesses and organisations also got behind the production.

Project co-ordinator Jonathon Kay said the project was the first of its kind, bringing in a new era of creative schooling techniques.

The dramatic film, about a teenage girl who is bullied at her new school after her father is convicted of murder, was written by Penketh's Graeme Baxter, starring students and with cameo appearances from local celebrities such as North West Tonight presenter Gordon Burns.

Said Kay: 'Days is an example of what can be achieved in terms of education and film in this age of digital cinema. The film acts as a fantastic training exercise and gives students an opportunity they would have otherwise been unlikely to find.

'We worked with minimal staff on the project, with everyone working on every step of the production. It currently has been scheduled for limited local release at the Odeon West Brook, Warrington, who has agreed to show it during off-peak times, such as during the day. The next step is to try to get it into film festivals and touring other schools as an educational template.'

The school intends to further promote the film through various distribution channels including the Internet, as well as eventually releasing it on DVD. Days will have a red-carpet, Hollywood-style premiere on June 6 at The Foundry, Widnes.

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