SELBY might seem a million miles away from the glamour of the Cannes Film Festival, but a movie made in the town is to feature at the world-famous event next month.

The film, titled Heckle, tells the story of Stacy Mitchell, a supermarket cashier living in Selby, who hides her misery with a happy persona and drunkenly heckles a stand-up comedian, who later becomes her mentor and changes her life.

The film was shot last September at locations around the town, including the railway station and a number of pubs.

Director Robbie Moffatt, who made the film with Pinewood-based production company Palm Tree Productions, will travel to thje South of France to try and sell it for distribution.

He said Selby had played a large part in the project.

Robbie said: “I think it’s a real British film.

“It’s got that British sensibility to it and it’s been shot nicely. It captured something of Selby and Yorkshire’s character.

“You can see, as a town, it’s had its heyday and is a bit worn at the edges, but there’s a lot of civic pride there, which I noticed. There’s also a strong local identity. People are proud to come from there.”

Rick Monist, from Knaresborough, worked on the film as locations manager for the three-week shoot.

He said: “Robbie’s intention was always to show it at Cannes, and, touch wood, we’re going to get a distributor from it.”

Robbie said: “There’s a lot of competition, but we have quite a few fans there from previous films and we’re just going out there with a good film that has to find an audience.

“I think there’s an audience for this film, but all we can do is show it to them and they will buy it or they won’t.”