A poignant movie made by an award-winning filmmaker and staff from Bradford University is to be screened at the Edinburgh Film Festival next week.

Ex Memoria is a short film about one woman's experience of dementia and is the result of a collaboration between the writer/director Josh Appignanesi and lecturers from Bradford Dementia Group, a division of the University of Bradford's School of Health Studies.

The inspiration for the film came from Mr Appignanesi's visits to his grandmother, who had dementia and was living in a nursing home.

He based his main character, Eva, played by Olivier Award-winning actress Sara Kestelman, on her.

The 15-minute film gives a sense of Eva's strange experiences as everyday life in the nursing home is transformed by vivid memories from the past.

A brief scene showing Eva as a young girl is a strong clue that her early life in wartime Poland has affected her life in the present.

Natalie Press, who played Caddy Turveydrop in Bleak House, stars as the child Eva.

The film was funded by the Wellcome Trust's SCIART scheme.

Errollyn Bruce and Andrea Capstick, from the Bradford Dementia Group, advised on the portrayal of nursing home life and making Eva's dementia believable, so the film would be suitable to use in training and education for those working in dementia care.

Errollyn, a Dementia Studies lecturer at the University of Bradford, set up a group including colleagues and members of the Bradford branch of the Alzheimer's Society to advise on the script and portrayal of the characters.

Errollyn said: "It's been an incredible experience to work on this project with such an array of talented filmmakers and actors.

"Ex Memoria gives people a glimpse of the strangeness of living with dementia.

"Josh drew upon his grandmother's life history and experiences to create the character Eva, and the collaboration with the Bradford Dementia Group helped him present a believable picture of Eva's experience."

Errollyn helped Sara Kestelman to prepare for her role and both she and Andrea Capstick from the Group attended the shoot and worked on learning material to go with the film, which has been made into a DVD.

Errollyn added: "Ex Memoria is filmed in a way that highlights Eva's view of events. It challenges us to think about what she is experiencing and makes us wonder what it would be like to be an old person with dementia."

Josh Appignanesi's short film Nine and a Half Minutes won the runners-up prize at BBC Talent New Filmmaker Awards, and was screened at Brief Encounters Film Festival 2003 and the Edinburgh Film Festival.

Ex Memoria is being shown on Monday and Wednesday in Edinburgh.

e-mail: saima.mir @bradford.newsquest.co.uk