An illustrator from Witham is celebrating after scooping three prestigious amateur filmmaking awards.

Henryk Jachimczyk, 55, of Dorothy Sayers Drive, saw off competition from 250 entries at the British International Amateur Film Festival held in Sittingbourne, Kent.

His experimental six minute short called Ransom Note picked up the five star rated IAC Diamond trophy, the Best Entry from an affiliated club, and Best Editing at the festival.

Mr Jachimczyk, who is a professional illustrator-artist, has been a member of Colchester Film Makers for five years.

He said: “This is the first time I have actually had a film put into a competition. I usually just make films for pleasure or charity events.

”My film club said it was actually quite interesting and it was unusual enough they thought it might have a chance of winning.

“It was a good result for the club and for myself.”

The film is an experimental thriller based around a kidnap plot.

Unusually, the actors are filmed only from the neck down and no dialogue is heard.

He said: “Because of the way I have broken up the screen it suggests broken relationships between characters.

“It’s complicated and because there is so much happening on the screen you have to pay attention.”

The festival’s panel of judges said: “You force us to observe the details which reveal the story. The title sequence is at once charming and also suggests the way we will be fed information in visual snippets throughout.

“The editing, in the sense of both timing of cuts and layout on-screen, is what makes the film powerful and memorable.”

The film can be watched at vimeo.com/107385906.