A short film made with a budget of a few hundred pounds has won two prizes at the New York International Independent Film and Video Awards.

Neil McEnery-West, who grew up in Brighton and made his first film while a student at Brighton and Hove Sixth Form College, was voted best international director, and Matthew Jure won best actor for his role in the film, Undertow.

It begins and ends on Brighton Beach - though it is referred to as Saltdean Beach in the script - and tells of two people coming to terms with the aftermath of a tragic event.

Mr McEnery-West, 32, who now lives in London, spent four-and- a-half years making the film at weekends while holding down a job as a financial administrator.

The film, largely set in the deserted streets of London, stars his wife Clea, a Sussex University graduate.

He said: "We would meet at 5.30am in central London, having done a lot of research into areas which had moments of emptiness when you could capture short bursts.

"Sometimes we'd have to wait five or six hours for those moments to arrive.

"There have been films like 28 Days Later and I Am Legend which have done similar things but to my knowledge it hasn't been done independently before."

Mr McEnery-West and his co-writer Antony Woodruff now plan to raise funds for their next project, a thriller set in the London Underground.