HUNDREDS of school pupils enjoyed the red carpet treatment when a cinema hosted Keighley's first film festival for children.

Youngsters from Catholic schools in Keighley and Bradford attended the Keighley Festival event at the Picture House cinema.

The 250 pupils from St Joseph’s, St Anne’s and Our Lady of Victories schools in Keighley, and St Francis School in Bradford, watched films they had made during the past 18 months.

The gala occasion built on a Keighley Festival event last year, in which parents and pupils from two of the schools attended a red carpet premiere of their movie Built On Faith. The film portrayed stories from the history of the Roman Catholic community in Keighley.

Keighley’s Catholic primary schools this year adopted similar drama and documentary techniques to make the film Hindenburg. The movie re-created the famous visit to Keighley in the 1930s by German airship the Hindenburg to drop wreaths in memory of First World War prisoners who had died in Keighley.

Youngsters carried out research amongst the Keighley Library archives and interviewed people who remembered the visit by the airship.

The Hindenburg was reputedly also also on a spying mission to photograph and map the British Isles in advance of a possible German invasion.

Following the film screenings last Wednesday, awards were presented to the children for best actors, producers, writers and researchers.

Schools worked on their movies with Brilliant Films, run by former BBC filmmaker, Mark Waddington, and Keighley Festival leader and historian, Malcolm Hanson.

Mr Hanson said: “When the lights went down it was the trigger for pandemonium as they all started cheering and stamping their feet, and when they saw that first up was Built On Faith the place erupted.

“We produce the films with a real cinematic quality using special effects and surround sound.

“Our company, Brilliant Work Films, is the only one in the UK that produces primary school films formatted specifically for digital cinema. We have full widescreen cinema scope.”

Executive producer, Mark Waddington, said the project was about creating happy memories and confidence in the children.

He added: “It’s been wonderful to see them dressed up and cheering each other.

“For Malcolm and I, this is not a commercial exercise but a labour of love, and we’d love to work with other Keighley schools on some really big ideas.

“We can help schools get a team of children together to produce something really special for next year’s festival.”