Young directors Lewis Rose and Richard Beecham were celebrating this week after each receiving a £10,000 grant from the Pears UKJFF Short Film Fund.

The money will help Mr Rose, 27, make The Chop, his film about a kosher butcher in a moment of crisis.

"The grant means a lot,2 he said. "It's the difference between making it now or 18 months' time. We can go into production right away."

Mr Beecham's film The Guitar, explores the unlikely relationship between a boy from the Gateshead strictly Orthodox community and a local working-class girl.

He said: “I’m absolutely delighted. I’m a theatre director and this is my first foray into film making so I very surprised to be an award winner.

“I hail from Tyne and used to go across to Gateshead for barMitzvah lessons. The proximity of the ultra-Orthodox community to working-class Tyneside, two opposites living side by side, made me want to explore the differences.”

Both films are expected to be premiered at the UK Jewish Film Festival in November.