A STAR-STUDDED judging panel including Titanic star Kate Winslet and British movie director Sir Alan Parker are to cast their expert eyes over a First Light Movies funded film made by young people from Birmingham.

Before I Could Remember has been nominated in the Best Film by 13s and Over category of the First Light Movies Awards 2007 - the UK’s very own Mini Oscars®.

Before I Could Remember, made by young people aged between 16 and 18 with St Basils, Shaftesbury House, is an abstract film full of dream-like imagery. The beautifully shot images are coupled with fairy tales and nursery rhymes.

The film was created by a group of ten homeless young women living in accommodation provided by St Basils using £4,000 of National Lottery funding through a First Light Movies Pilot Award.

The short film, shot using digital technology, will compete for the Best Film by 13s and Over category against mini movies from Aberdeen and Brighton. All the films will be rated by the First Light Movies Awards judging panel.

Other members of this year’s judging team include Hollywood actress Minnie Driver, Stormbreaker star Alex Pettyfer, Billy Elliot director Stephen Daldry and comedienne Catherine Tate.

Winners will be announced at a red-carpet event hosted by Alex Zane - presenter of Channel Four’s Popworld - at the Odeon West End, London, on Tuesday 27 February 2007.

First Light Movies provides funding and expertise to help five to 18-year-olds, throughout the UK from varying backgrounds, create their own films using National Lottery money through UK Film Council funding.

Through First Light Movies’ grants young people are given the opportunity to work alongside professional filmmakers and are involved with every aspect of filmmaking from forming the idea and the script to directing and editing.

First Light Movies Chief Executive Pip Eldridge says: “We’re amazed by the quality of this year’s First Light Movies Awards nominees. They prove that the next generation of UK filmmakers is thriving.

“This level of talent means this year’s awards should be particularly memorable and I’m really looking forward to the ceremony.”

The fifth First Light Movies Awards will be attended by leading figures from the worlds of television and film. Schools, youth groups and other organisations from across the UK are all vying for awards in nine categories including Best Screenplay and Best Horror.

First Light Movies Chair Barbara Broccoli, producer at James Bond production company EON, added: “I’m really proud to be associated with First Light Movies and I hope that many of the young people who have created these excellent nominated films will go on to work in the British film industry.”