A COMEDY horror film partly shot in Keighley has been nominated for a top award.

Described as a “90-minute supernatural romp through the Bradford underworld”, Polterheist is about two small-time crooks who kidnap a psychic to find out where their deceased boss hid the stolen loot.

It started out as a 20-minute film made with just £1,000 and supported by Bradford’s City of Film team, and went on to win national and international awards in America, Brazil, South Africa and across Europe. It beat 1,000 contenders to win Best Short Film at Bradford’s Drunken Film Festival.

The success of the short film led director and co-writer David Gilbank to create a full-length version.

He and the production team initially raised £45,000, and filming took place last year in Keighley and at Saltaire, Idle and Thackley. Scenes were also shot at an Asian wedding in Bradford.

Polterheist, which has its premiere in London in June, was written, produced and directed by Dave Gilbank and Paul Renhard and stars Bradford actor Sid Akbar Ali. Also working on the production was producer Pepe Fowler, from Skipton, who produced the video for Eighties classic Jive Bunny.

“My role initially involved pricing up the script for our locations, crew, actors, make-up artists and extras, and liaising with Dave to ensure we got all the ingredients just right,” said Pepe. “We started in May 2017 and finished at the end of January. I absolutely loved the script. I’d seen the short film beforehand so I knew it was going to be genius.

“Filming was great fun but challenging at times. Dave and I had what we termed a ‘crisis Wednesday’ seemingly every Wednesday! A major challenge was getting our actors together on the same days for filming as many were working on other projects.”

Sid Akbar Ali plays gangster Tariq, reprising the role he played in the original short film. He said: “It was great to be back with the team and working with incredible talent. Working with Dave and Paul was intense, exciting, emotional, hilarious and rewarding. I’ve enjoyed every second.”

Sid, who was in Russell T Davies’ E4 drama Banana, recently finished writing, directing and performing a one-man show called Nikah which examines the issue of forced marriage from a man’s perspective. The show debuted at Bradford’s Theatre in the Mill before heading for London.

Pepe is now working on a pilot episode for a sitcom based in the north of England.