A scene from Stop Still

»A hard hitting film shot in Barking and Dagenham received a special mention at a prestigious London-wide awards ceremony.

Stop, written and directed by Paul Murphy, missed out on the top spot at the Best of Borough Film awards (BoBs), but was chosen for a runner up accolade.

It tells the story of a woman called Karen who is trying to leave her abusive husband.

As she waits at a bus stop with her suitcase, Karen receives some simple advice from a wise beyond her years girl called Nicky.

Sadly for Karen, acting on that advice is not so easy.

Speaking of the film, the BoBs jury said: “Stop is an impressive production; well written, with a carefully constructed narrative that twisted and turned as motives and actions revealed more and more of the back story. Very good acting by the leads.”

Paul, who lives in Walthamstow, says he chose to shoot a film about domestic violence partly because he knows people who have been abused, but also because it gave him the chance to explore the idea of choice.

“I’m really interested in the concept,” the 37-year-old told the Post.

“I used to be quite blasé about stuff, but then I did this training course about making positive choices. It helped me to follow my dream of becoming a director.

“But it’s not always easy, and Karen who’s struggling to leave her violent partner shows that.”

Paul, who has worked for young people’s charity LifeLine in Barking and Dagenham, said he was delighted to receive a special mention at the Bobs, held at BFI Southbank on July 17.

All the short films entered for the BoBs were produced through the London Borough Film Fund Challenge, which aims to discover London’s next generation of film-makers and also works in partnership with the capital’s local authorities.