A STUDENT at South Bromsgrove High School has had a documentary film accepted into the DocSunback Film Festival in America.

The film ‘SBH Racing – The Inside Story’ is one of 150 short films which will be shown at the festival in Kansas, and tells the story of a Greenpower racing car project at South Bromsgrove High where students challenged themselves to build and race their own ‘Formula 24’ vehicle.

Student George Watkins was responsible for making the film. He said: “Film making is one of my passions and I wanted to make a documentary, as I had previously only made animation and action films. I had been involved with the Greenpower team so knew of the opportunities that it offers and the skills that can be learnt through participation in the scheme. I felt that by making a short film, we could increase awareness of the scheme and potentially inspire a new generation of engineers.”

George worked with a small team of students to plan the film, interviewing a number of people involved in the project, including MP Sajid Javid, and county councillor Anthony Blagg, as well as the managing director of USN Europe.

BBC Hereford and Worcester presenter Mike Wyer, was even presented to narrate the film.

George added: “We spent a great deal of time filming 'B Roll' footage to accompany the interviews and mask any cuts that we made. We wanted to make it exciting, and involve lots of footage of the car, but when we came to begin filming we discovered that it wasn't working, so in all of the shots in the film where you see the car moving, we had had to push it.

“I am very excited at the prospect of the film being shown to a large international audience, one of my aims was to increase awareness of the opportunities open to young people, and I'm excited to see where the project will go next.”

The film can be watched online at youtube.com/watch?v=QLn1Gim4_XU.

For more information on the DocSunback Film Festival, visit docsunbackfilmfest.com/, or to find out more about the Greenpower scheme visit greenpower.co.uk/racing/formula24.

George is now working on his next film project a classic murder mystery called ‘Death at Christmas’.