BOLTON FILM Festival (BFF) opens on Tuesday with the northern premiere of Time Away. It is one of nine amazing short films being screened on the night, all of which demonstrate the high calibre of entries into the festival. Today, the Bolton News meets the film's star and writer Katie Wimpenny.

SIX years ago, Katie wrote a full-length film script, Caravan, about the impact of thalidomide on a family. Thalidomide was used in the late 1950s and early 1960s and given to pregnant women suffering from morning sickness. However, it caused thousands of babies to be born with deformities.

The plan was to make Caravan for television and when Katie was asked who her dream director would be, she immediately named Maxine Peake, a long-time friend.

Fired with ambition, the project took a new direction and Katie and her team approached the British Film Institute for backing to turn it into a cinema film.

Things looked positive but because Maxine had yet to prove herself as a director, and because of the amount it was investing in the film, the BFI insisted she demonstrate her skills first with a short film.

The result is Time Away, and the good news is that Maxine showed she was more than up to the task because, on the strength of it, the green light has now been given for her to direct Caravan, which Katie describes as a present-day sequel to the 1960s-set Time Away.

Time Away is particularly significant for Katie as it is her first piece of writing that has become a film.

“I’ve done a hell of a lot of work in the past where I’ve worked and worked for a year or two but then the script’s just been shelved. To finally have a film crew there and have these characters come to life has been awesome.”

Her friendship with Maxine goes way back. They first met at the National Theatre in 2000, where Katie understudied Maxine.

“We kept in touch over the years and met up for drinks. When I sent her my script she immediately said she definitely wanted to do it.

“She is a brilliant director because being an actor herself, she understands what it’s like. Maxine has done so much acting work and been on so many film sets and television sets that she knows what it feels like to be given direction and is able to talk to actors in a way they understand.

“When she was filming Time Away she talked with the actors about who these characters were, what they want and how they feel. She really got to the root of the characters with them, instead of just letting them get on with it.”

Explaining her willingness to take on the project, Maxine said: “The strength and detail of Katie’s dialogue was what initially attracted me to the script. The two main protagonists are beautifully drawn and a wonderful gift for any actor.”

Describing how she found the experience of directing, she said: “I absolutely loved it, I had such a brilliant time and a couple of weeks later I was still buzzing – I hate that phrase ‘Oh I was buzzing!’, but I do get it now when people describe it like that because I was really ‘up’ from doing it, and I loved the experience, and now I know I want to do more of it.”

Katie has taken a leaf out of Alfred Hitchcock’s book and makes a cameo in Time Away, playing a waitress.

“I really wanted to be on set and it was brilliant seeing how it all unfolded. There’s barely any shots of my face so it’s just me bringing food and drinks, and then I have this little exchange with Patricia who’s the leading girl.

“I’m not one of those people who writes their own stuff just so they can act in it. I want to tell stories and it just so happens that I am an actor as well so, sometimes, in order to get my work seen, I’ll act in it but it’s not my main focus.”

You might think that having created and written a character, it would be easier to act, but for Katie, that is not the case.

“I’ve written stuff for myself that I’ve performed onstage, but you still have to learn it and, while you’re learning it, you’re spotting all the flaws in it and thinking ‘Oh, that doesn’t work’.”

Katie still enjoys her acting work – she’s appeared in Emmerdale and various plays– and is happy to juggle it with her writing. But witnessing Maxine at work has inspired her to explore directing.

“If you’ve written something, you’ve got an image in your head of how you want it to play out and though that can never truly happen, at least if you’re directing it, you get a good go at trying to recreate that”

Tuesday’s screening – the Northern premiere - will be the first time Katie will see her film on the big screen – so far, she has only viewed it on her laptop.

Not surprisingly, she’ll be bringing her proud family over from Huddersfield to share in her big moment.