HUNDREDS of Hampshire young wannabes had the chance for a shot at stardom when they attended a film audition in Southampton.

City-based Ocean Terminal Films held the auditions in Newtown and St Mary's on Saturday for a new film Silent Soul.

The dramatic film is based loosely on the early musical career of star Craig David, pictured.

The movie will be shot in the New-town area of Southampton during the summer and will be shown on Meridian TV in December and entered into the competitive section of Cannes Film Festival next spring.

Robert Clother, director of the film, said: "Craig's success has opened people's eyes to the creative potential within the inner city.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for the area's young people to become involved in a professional film and we are hoping to discover and inspire a further wave of Southampton talent."

The film, which has an original soundtrack produced by Southampton's Mark Hill, of Artful Dodger fame, will also provide a free training course for young people interested in learning about the technical side of film making.

Ocean Terminal is running a workshop-based course, funded by Southampton Regeneration Partnership, including camera, editing and scriptwriting techniques, in the weeks leading up to production in August.

A number of people will be selected from these workshops to join the professional crew throughout the film shoot.

As reported previously in the Daily Echo, the movie's soundtrack will feature 20 tunes from up-and-coming Southampton recording artists and will be released later as a charitable CD.

Meridian Television will also be making a half-hour documentary film about the project, which will be screened in the Fame series in November.