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Former regional reporter makes award-winning film

A former regional press journalist has become an award-winning film maker after a chance encounter with an Afghan cricketer.

Tim Albone trained in the Wells newsroom at Northcliffe’s Mid Somerset News and Media for nine months before becoming a correspondent for The Times in Afghanistan.

While out there, he interviewed Taj Malik, coach of the Afghan national cricket team, who said they were going to try to get into the Cricket World Cup, and the idea for the film was born.

The film, called Out of the Ashes, has now been completed with the help of Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes, and is due to be screened by the BBC in early February.

Tim had just a week’s training behind a camera before filming started in March 2008 and he was joined by a small team in charting the successes of the Afghan cricketers, who made it through to the 2009 World Cup Qualifier.

He said: “The film happened by accident. Taj told me they were going to try and get into the Cricket World Cup, which had qualifying matches in Jersey and I thought it would be a great idea for a film.

“I didn’t expect them to go any further than Jersey, to be honest. We thought there might be a 30 minute film in it but they kept winning.”

They managed to raise funding for the film and after almost a year of filming, BBC Storyville acquired the UK broadcast rights.

In 2010, Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes, an avid cricket fan, joined the project as an executive producer and encouraged the film makers to cover the ICC World Twenty20 in the West Indies, which the Afghan team qualified for.

The film, which was completed in New York, was chosen for the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2010 where it was selected as ‘Best of the Fest’ and won a special jury prize in the Peace and Sport Award Awards 2010 in Monaco.

Tim is now finishing a book on the team’s adventures which is expected to be released in May and the film is due to be shown on BBC4 on 7 February.