Film-makers from Shoot Your Mouth Off (SYMO), in Hartlepool, are celebrating after one of their productions was voted best film in a recent festival.

Audiences at the Colours In A Rainbow Film and Arts Festival in Sheffield earlier this month were won over by the film Cared Witless which they hailed as "funny and true".

Karen Sheader, director of SYMO, said: "It is absolutely brilliant. It demonstrates to the wider world that people with learning disabilities have considerable skill and talent."

The award-winning film tells the story of Glen Miller with Down's Syndrome, played by the group's David Miller, on a shopping trip with a personal assistant from hell.


Click here to view Cared Witless

After trying to make friends with the cantankerous assistant, Glen seizes the day for himself.

Members of the group have been presented with a DVD camcorder which they will use to practice their filming skills at their studios in Cromwell Street, Hartlepool.

The group of 15 film-makers, who meet every Monday and Friday, have made more than 100 films ranging from comedy, horror, and science fiction since forming in 2001.

They produce their own DVDs and post their productions on websites such as YouTube and MySpace. In 2005, they won a Royal Television Society best film award for a film called Nuts For Pudding. This was presented to them by newsreader Nicholas Owen.

And in 2006, Cared Witless, was also named best film under ten minutes at the international Oska Bright Film Festival in Brighton. Karen, who started SYMO in 2001, added: "Members get to take part in activities which normally would be an extremely difficult field for them to break into.

"From winning awards such as this and going to festivals they get an enormous sense of self esteem and satisfaction and increase in confidence."

Shoot Your Mouth Off currently has places in its Monday session for anyone over 18 with learning difficulties.

Contact Karen Sheader on 07960 532554 or email karen.sheader@googlemail.com