Congratulations to North Lanarkshire's LensHeads Film School who saw off competition from across the UK to win the First Light Award for best screenplay for their short film Backfire.

The announcement was made on Tuesday 2 March at a ceremony in London's Odeon Leicester Square, with UK director Sam Mendes and actor Ralph Fiennes among the judges.

Sir Alan Parker, Director of Evita, Bugsy Malone, The Commitments, Pink Floyd The Wall and Mississippi Burning said of Backfire: "It's convincingly written with good, realistic Dialogue. A nicely constructed story between reality and paranoia on topical subject."

BackFire was written, directed and acted by pupils from St Andrew's and St Ambrose high schools, Coatbridge; Airdrie Academy and St Aiden's High School, Wishaw.

The film school, based in the Bellshill Learning Centre, was started six years ago to encourage pupils to become involved in film and media studies.

The First Light Awards aren't the LensHeads team's first success. The group also scooped The Discovery Youth Screen Award 2009, Scotland's top film-making prize for under 18s.
Willie Davidson Head of The Learning Centre said: "When I used to say that in regard to youth film North Lanarkshire was the Hollywood of Scotland my tongue was firmly in my cheek. However having received Best Scottish Film at the Discovery awards and The Best British Screenplay at First Light in London what started as a joke is starting to look like a reality."