ACCLAIMED film director Ken Russell was full of praise for the aspiring movie-makers of tomorrow at the annual awards ceremony of the Newport-based International Film School Wales.

"The standard of films was excellent," he said, after viewing a diverse range of films, including a tale of Newport's asylum-seekers and a documentary about children in peril in Uganda.

In the BA (Hons) Film and Video category, the award for best direction went to Light In Shadow, a sensitive and moving look at the fate of an asylum-seeking woman trapped in Newport.

"A moving, unusual film that deserves a special award for guts and glory," said Mr Russell about the best produced film, Night Commuters by Marc Hoeferlin, Ashley Jenkins and Justin Purefoy.

A haunting documentary about children in Uganda fleeing their homes at night to safe havens to escape kidnap by the psychopathic guerrilla group. the Lord's Resistance Army, this film, made in perilous circumstances, was so good it featured as an item on television news.

The award for best script went to A Day Out With Gwyn by Keri Collins, from Caldicot, and Paul West.

Set in the seaside town of Penarth, it focused on generational differences and the reconciliation between a boy and his grandfather and starred Frank Kelly, better known as Father Jack of television's Father Ted.

In the best production skills category Explore, by Oliver Barber, took the gong with a breakneck look at the cityscape and roads of Newport and its environs with dazzling effect.

Humphry Trevelyan, head of the International Film School Wales, said: "Film making at IFSW continues to broaden in range and deepen in the development of creative skills.

"The overall standard this year must be one of the best ever and shows how the school is managing to combine the demands of the film and television industries for creative ideas and technical excellence - a successful combination that is winning the IFSW serious national and international recognition."