THERE will be a special York preview of a new British film inspired by the story of a maths sensation and former York College student.

X plus Y, starring Asa Butterfield, Sally Hawkins and Rafe Spall and directed by Morgan Matthews, is due for national release on Friday, March 13, but there will be a special invite-only screening before that at York's City Screen on Sunday, March 8 at 12 noon.

The story is based on the BBC documentary Beautiful Young Minds (BYM), screened in 2007, which featured the story of then teenager Daniel Lightwing.

As The Press reported at the time, Daniel, who is originally from Warthill, near York, starred in the documentary which told the story of some of the brightest mathematical brains of a generation.

Daniel, who was 17 at the time of filming BYM, was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism that affects the way a person communicates and relates to others.

The film is largely based on his life, showing a young man with Asperger’s who struggled with social interactions and relationships, but still managed to attain success with a silver medal in the IMO, representing the UK.

Daniel spent a year training with the UK maths squad, teaching English in China and travelling.

He was then selected for the UK team at the main International Mathematics Olympiad and went on to study maths and oriental studies at Cambridge.

His love of China, its language and his marriage to Yan Zhu, a Chinese girl, featured on BYM, and has many similarities with X plus Y.

The film follows a character called Nathan, played by Asa Butterfield - who starred in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Ender’s Game - who struggles to connect with people and finds the comfort and security he needs in numbers and mathematics.

Daniel is now in his 20s and living in London, has worked as a programmer for Google and recently joined the company Greenday, who are building what will be the largest building in Europe, as IT, translating and marketing manager.

His dad, David, an Elvington GP, still lives in Wharthill with his wife, Carolyn, and the family is hosting the York screening and have invited guests to the event which has been funded by Koch Media. The film will be showing to the public at City Screen from Friday, March 20.