AN ASPIRING movie director and former News Shopper paperboy has reached the final of a major film competition.

Guy Shelmerdine, 32, is in the last six of the TCM Classic Shorts competition.

This is one of the most prestigious and valuable short film competitions in Europe with the chance to win £10,000 and critical acclaim.

He hopes to win the competition with his film Jane Lloyd about a girl whose dreams fail as she ends up a prostitute.

Mr Shelmerdine said: "It means a lot to be nominated.

"When you work on a project for a whole year and it gets some acclaim it makes your hard work worthwhile."

Jane Lloyd uses 600 different shots to document the entire life of the title character in five minutes.

But his directing debut involved a subject matter rather closer to home after he accidentally caught his neighbours naked when he was just 14.

He said: "One day as I was shooting one of the birds being chased across the drive I happened to catch our neighbours through the window naked.

"Once the film was developed I chose to show it to the neighbours.

"They offered me £50 for the roll."

Mr Shelmerdine has directed several adverts including ones for PlayStation and Egg Card which were shot in the Orpington area and is now living in the USA.

The former pupil of Bickley Park School, Page Heath Lane, Bickley, is influenced by his Orpington background.

He said: "I often think about the place with fond memories.

"One day I would like to shoot a whole film in Farnborough Village.

The winner of the competition will be announced on November 2 at the National Film Theatre as part of the 49th Times British Film Institute London Film Festival.

The competition judges include Dame Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman and Kate Winslet.

There were 459 entries in the competition overall.