A GREENWICH lecturer is "shell-shocked" that his film about the aftermath of a visit to a sperm bank has received a Bafta nomination for best short film.

Ben Mallaby, a lecturer on the Digital Film Production course at Ravensbourne, directed the film Island Queen, written by Nat Luurtsema.

The team had a budget of just £1,000 and shot the film, which is set on a small island, in three days which "thankfully were sunny".

Having already showed the film at the London Short Film Festival, a requirement for Bafta applications, Mallaby entered the film into the awards but "was not expecting anything".

However, the film had already found success at the European Independent Film Festival in April last year where it picked up an award for Best Comedy. 

He said: "I am so proud of the team who worked for expenses only. They only did it because they loved the script.

"I could not be more excited about the reception the film has had."

The film tells the hilarious tale of a woman who, wanting to grow up, visits a sperm bank and later makes the shocking discovery of whose sperm she received. 

Mallaby and Luurtsema were inspired by a report about sperm banks in Iceland refusing to accept donations from native people because they could not ensure donors and users would be unrelated.