MALVERN film maker Neil Oseman, described as 'a British Tarantino in the making', has won a prestigious award from Channel 4.

Neil, 25, whose dark fantasy film Soul Searcher is set in and around Hereford and Worcester, has been selected as a winner by Channel 4 Ideas Factory, a scheme designed to uncover new talent.

Filmed on a budget of just £20,000, Soul Searcher is about Joe, a street sweeper from Hereford who is offered the job of Death by an ailing Grim Reaper.

Neil stunned the judges with the sheer scale of his project. Not only did he direct, produce and co-write the film, he assembled a 56-piece orchestra to perform the original score, included 250 special effects shots and a chase between a car and express train.

Neil, a former pupil at The Chase, wanted to make films ever since he was given a camcorder as a teenager and has just returned from the Cannes Film Festival.

"It's eye opening to see the mercenary, money making side of the film industry," he said. "But I made a lot of contacts and may have found a distributor who can get the film screened in cinemas and released as a DVD."

The Channel 4 award will mean exposure and publicity for Neil's film, as well as a trophy.

"A distribution deal is what I need. When you make a film you want people to see it and enjoy it," he said.

As well as working to get his film into cinemas, Neil has other projects in the pipeline, including another fantasy film and a film based on a graphic novel.

Soul Searcher is being screened at the Courtyard Theatre in Hereford tomorrow (Saturday) and on Tuesday (June 14).

The film can also been seen at Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham, on Friday, June 24, where Neil will take part in a question and answer session about the project.

n Ideas Factory is Channel 4's website for young creative talent. An interview with Neil Oseman will be appearing on it soon.