Northern student chaplain Rabbi YY Rubinstein has turned from broadcasting to film directing, hoping to win an award at an international film festival supported by Tony Blair.

He has written a screenplay, Changing Places, to be filmed by a cast and crew of 20 Jewish film students over the next three weeks in Liverpool. It tracks their quest to search out a forgotten Jewish community in the fictional town of Maccleton. The final scene will recreate Yom Kippur synagogue services and requires 50 Jewish extras.

The 20-minute piece will be entered into the Insight Film Festival, which focuses on religion and which he helped found in 2007 with former Songs of Praise producer John Forrest.

The pair met while working together at the BBC. Since then, the festival has joined forces with the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and has received personal support from the former prime minister to promote inter-religious dialogue.