A short film made at the height of lockdown has been selected for an international film festival.
Double Word Score is a 90-second short exploring a blossoming romance between two neighbours as they self-isolate during the pandemic.
It shows the pair overcome the physical barriers between them by flirting through a series of remote Scrabble games and texts.
The film is a collaboration between a group of Leicester film professionals and has now been chosen as part of the official selection for Depict 2020, a short film competition at the Encounters Film Festival.
Director Keith Allot, who lives in Leicester's Western Park, said: "The short film was created back in May when the British public were instructed to stay at home except for certain very limited purposes.
"It stars lead actor Mbili Munthali, who is also from Leicester, and fellow actor Joe Street and shows a love story told between two people playing a game of Scrabble via text messaging.
"Photographs of increasingly flirtatious words are exchanged between the pair until an invite to dinner is extended."
Keith, who has been involved in film-making for 20 years and used to manage the city's community studios, added: "The film came as a welcome release and a distraction from the stress we were experiencing at the time.
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"To create a film safely gave a huge boost to everyone involved and we’re very proud of what we managed to create."
Mbili Munthali, 34, who has been involved in photography and film-making since he was 15, grew up in Leicester’s Highfields before studying at De Montfort University.
He said: "It was great to get back to doing something we all love.
"The idea of the film and its simplicity were important to us being able to create it.
"It’s essentially a very simple love story but I feel it’s positivity and uplifting message is important right now.”
The group were brought together through an initiative called Micro Shorts, run by and including members of BAFTA Crew - the British film academy initiative to support the next generation of film talent.
The film-making process included developing the original script of Edinburgh-based writer Kevin Walls into a shot list designed by director of photography Thomas Shawcroft and scheduled by producer Dom Lee.
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Both actors filmed all their own scenes while accompanied virtually by Keith on Zoom.
He said: "To complete the film safely, we knew that we could not meet each other as a crew, and we couldn’t operate in our usual roles.
"We had to make sure everything was in place, both artistically and technically, for the actors so they could film themselves.
"And once we were in production it was just a case of giving the actors the confidence to film themselves and provide notes on any adjustments there might be."
The footage created was shared digitally with editor Giorgio Galli and composer Roma Yagnik who assembled the look of the film and the musical score.
Once completed, the film was entered into DepicT, the “super-short” film competition run by Watershed Cinema.
It was among 1,360 entries from over 80 countries selected for the final 60 screening spaces at the Encounters Film Festival, in Bristol.
Keith said: "There was an incredibly exciting and diverse pool of talent to whittle down so to be selected for such a prestigious festival was a real honour - especially considering the circumstances in which our film was created.
"The festival is also a pre-qualifying event for both the BAFTAs and Academy Awards so you never know."
Double Word Score is currently available to watch online as part of the final selection and is being considered for one of the festival’s five awards, including the Audience Choice prize decided by a public vote.
To vote for the film, and to leave a comment, click here. Voting closes on Saturday, October 3, at 9am.