A Barnoldswick firm has produced a hard-hitting film about social issues affecting young people.

Over the past 20 weeks, a group of young people from across Pendle have been involved in a project called Art for Our Sake, funded by Lancashire Constabulary and Young People’s Service.

The project was designed to involve young people from a cross section of backgrounds and, through art, allow them to express their feelings on a variety of issues including bullying, violence, racism, alcohol, anti social behaviour and knife crime.

Barnoldswick production company the Reverb Factory was drafted in to work closely with the group to produce a short film.

Several workshops later, the youngsters used their new film-making techniques to bring their ideas to life.

The short film, called Missed Opportunity, was written and directed by Bryan Fieldhouse, of the Reverb Factory and features youngsters from the group, as well as local police officers, family and friends.

When it came to the soundtrack for the film, the Reverb Factory approached local musicians, giving them the opportunity to showcase their work. Sam Hird provided the closing song entitled Forgotten. Having re-adapted the lyrics to fit the film, he then went on to re-record the track at Reverb’s studio in Barnoldswick.

The film also features Revolva Head, Tom Hargreaves, Effluence and Michael Slevin. Andrew Gilmour, of the Reverb Factory, said: “The whole experience has proved to be a very challenging, yet rewarding one for the group. Having never acted in a film before, their confidence grew throughout filming and they should be proud of their performances and achievements.”

Mr Fieldhouse said: “We wanted to really push the boundaries with this project, choosing to shoot it all in high definition, and using professional film-making techniques.”

PCs Brendan Wood and Claire Sharples, of West Craven Neighbourhood Policing Team, took part in the filming.

The premiere of Missed Opportunity took place last week at the ACE Centre in Nelson.

The film will also be screened at the Rainhall Centre in Barnoldswick at 7pm tomorrow, where additional behind-the-scenes footage will be shown. The film has a 15 certification.