A BARNSLEY dancer has struck gold by bagging a major prize at an international film festival in a piece based at her Dodworth home.

Choreographer Keira Martin, who lives in Dodworth, alongside filmmaker Wayne Sable, won at the Montreal Independent Film Festival and was named Best Experimental Film for their 12-minute film ‘Familiar Struggle’.

The project, which was commissioned by dance company Surf the Wave, was filmed over just two days last autumn in Keira’s home.

Wayne said: “The original intention was to create a work around the idea of passion for the arts and the experience of growing up and working in the arts in South Yorkshire.

“But for me it’s particularly special as the final film was not the film we intended to make and what we created is far more powerful than the original idea, which is so often what happens with film.

“Keira is new to film so it marks a real step change in her career too and opens her work to a whole new audience.

“The exciting thing for us is that dance is usually difficult to place in these sorts of competitions.

“But I think the rawness and honesty of what we created is what will have appealed to the judges.

“It’s gritty and I don’t see it as a dance film – to me it’s a film that uses dance in a new and challenging way.”