A GROUP of professional digital artists with learning disabilities will see their work on the big screen.

Oxford-based group The Shadowlight Artists has secured a spot to screen its work at a London film festival.

The Cave, a short animation inspired by cave paintings, will be shown at the national Together! Disability Film Festival tomorrow.

Member Danny Smith said: “I think it will be nice, amazing actually, to see the film come to life in London. It was lots of hard work but once we got one bit done it was really fun.”

Mr Smith has Down’s Syndrome and was knocked over by a car in Wallingford when he was 18. He has spoken with a stutter ever since. The 39-year-old grew up in Wallingford but now lives in Oxford.

The film was created by all 10 Shadowlight artists, who all feature in the movie, and production was completed in the summer.

It was then submitted to a panel of judges for the Together! Disability Film Festival and announced last week as one of the films to be screened.

Ju Gosling, artistic director of Together! 2012 CIC, one the festival organisers, said: “We were inundated with films from the past 18 months.

“We were delighted with the Shadowlights film.”

Charity Film Oxford, which has been training people in film and video media over the last 30 years, helped set up the independent group five years ago.

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The Cave project was funded by local trusts and other bodies, including St Michael at the Northgate Church in Cornmarket Street, Oxford.

Film Oxford’s Richard Duriez, who works with the group, will be attending the screening with Danny Smith and fellow Shadowlights member Mark Hemsworth, a 46-year-old from Wallingford who is autistic.

Mr Duriez said: “Both Danny and Mark are really excited about seeing the film and getting the recognition for it.

“It’s great for them to see the film go mainstream and also to go down to London.”

He added: “We want to give the opportunity to people with learning disabilities and young people - the people who are often at home creating without the tools or exhibitions, and no way of moving in the same circles.”

  • The Cave

The third annual Together! Disability Film Festival is a three-day event that brings together films from around the world by disabled filmmakers, films featuring disabled characters and films with disability themes.

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