TWIN brothers are set to star at a prestigious international film festival.

Peter and Tony Foster, aged 14, of Bishops Frome, near Bromyard, were handed the lead roles in The End Of The Party in August 2006.

The film has now been picked from more than 1,000 entries to be shown at the Rome Independent Film Festival on Tuesday, April 17.

The film, adapted from the Graham Greene short story, is about 11-year-old twin brothers Francis and Peter, who are invited to attend a birthday party of a school friend.

However, Francis, who is a diabetic, does not want to attend because he is scared of the dark and does not want to play a game of hide-and-seek. His fear leads to him refusing to take his insulin as a way of getting out of going to the party. It follows his downward spiral into depression before climaxing in an emotional ending.

The boys' mother Clare said it was a great opportunity for her sons, who attend John Masefield School in Ledbury and appeared as Lost Boys in the pantomime production of Peter Pan at Malvern Theatres two years ago.

"It's quite a tough industry to get into and not a nice industry some times," said Ms Foster, aged 45.

"But it was amazing. The film crew were very good. It was great for the boys, who were very calm and professional and did what they had to do."

However, Ms Foster said the film's content did affect Tony, who played Francis.

"It's pretty full-on, I can tell you," she said.

"He was actually getting depressed because they were making him up to look iller and iller as time went on.

"We were getting back to the bed and breakfast and he was saying he couldn't get out of character and it was making him feel really sad."

Despite the traumas of the shoot, Ms Foster said she thinks Tony will carry on acting, although Peter has decided not to continue in front of the cameras.

The film was shot on 35mm over 11 days in four different locations, including Essex and Hampshire.

For more information about the Rome Independent Film Festival, visit www.riff.it