A NEWPORT actor and film maker has been honoured with an award at a leading London film festival.

Twenty-five-year-old Darragh Mortell has taken the award for the best experimental film at the London Independent Film Festival.

Mr Mortell, from St Marks Crescent, scripted and directed his film Peep Dish, a surreal thriller which focuses on a peeping Tom who stumbles upon a mysterious box on the side of the road and becomes imprisoned and forced to analyse in-depth the murky consequences of his voyeuristic addictions

The award was announced at the conclusion of the London festival which ran from April 16 to 27.

The film, shot in London, was chosen as a category winner from a total of 800 films submitted from all over the world for the 12th annual Independent London Film FestivaI, which was set up to showcase high quality, low budget productions.

“We had a great team working on this production which dealt with a challenging and slightly disturbing theme,” Mr Mortell said.

“This accolade is a great outcome for a lot of hard work and dedication which went into the project.

“We are all thrilled.”

Carlene King of Graft Films was the executive producer for the film which also starred Mr Mortell, alongside Swansea actress Georgia Henshaw, of BBC’s Waterloo Road and Channel Four’s new hit series Cucumber/Banana.

Harry Ferrier from Cardiff also featured in BBC War drama Our Girl and in Newport film maker Peter Greenway’s Nightwatching.

Shortlisted films in the festival have been screened over the past ten days in the Shortwave and Genesis cinemas in London.

Darragh played several high- profile roles in children’s television over the past ten years and more recently has appeared in a number of adult dramas including mainstream series such as Casualty, Holby City and The Bill.

Mr Mortell who divides his time between Newport and London, hopes to take the film to other major festivals internationally over the coming months, including Berlin and Toronto.

He is also busy completing scripts for another short film and a full length feature.

For a full list of winners visit: http://www.liff.org/liff-2015-winners-pr/