A TREDEGAR film company which took local schoolchildren to Poland to play the part of extras is showing their new film today.

Green Valley film productions usually makes historical documentaries but has spent the last year working with actors in Poland to film their first feature film.

The film, a supernatural thriller called The Bench, was made to support Blue Balloon children's charity which was set up by retired headteacher Steven Knapik MBE.

The charity, which aims to improve children's welfare, has for many years worked alongside an orphanage in Legnica, Poland.

Children from Penycwm special school in Beaufort and Deighton primary in Tredegar visited Poland to star as extras in the project and link up with schools there. The film is shot in Polish with English subtitles.

Kevin Phillips, director and the head of Green Valley, said: " It's one of a kind. It's an excellent example of how communities can come together and work beyond the financial barrier.

"By all of us pulling together and doing something, that's what the legacy of this film is."

Actors and helpers with the project, from Poland, have visited Tredegar this weekend and today [Monday] are being treated to a special screening of the film at the recently-opened Little Theatre.

Green Valley, which has been working on the project since September last year, hopes to enter the finished film to festivals later this year before its official premiere at the end of the year.

The Little Theatre is a community cinema which has been running for a couple of months and is the first cinema in Tredegar for 30 years.