A FILMMAKER from Harwood is celebrating winning a Hollywood Oscar!

Julie Foy, was associate producer on The Silent Child, which took the coveted Academy Award for Best Live Action short film.

And Julie, aged 47 was in the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood Boulevard for the glittering ceremony on Sunday night with other members of the crew.

Dad, Martin, aged 72, and mum, Lynne, aged 65, of Sandown Road, Harwood waited up into the early hours for the result, but went to bed before they knew if Julie had won against the world’s best cinematic offerings.

Martin said: “We stayed up until 1.40am and I was so shattered we decided to go to bed.

“A phone call from our other daughter Amanda woke us up shortly after 3.30am to tell us Julie had won and our first thought was ‘wow they have won’.

“Myself and Lynne were absolutely elated and we were hugging one another like a couple of children in moments where just about every possible emotion kicked in.”

The film, which tells the story of Maisie, a profoundly deaf four-year-old child, pushed to the margins of her parents' lives, who only finds release from her lonely existence when the family employs a speech therapist played by actor Rachel Shenton, a former Hollyoaks character, who also wrote the script.

The film was directed by Rachel’s fiancé Chris Overton, also a former member of the Hollyoaks cast.

Julie has appeared in acting roles including a stint in Coronation Street and in the popular TV series Jossy’s Giants.

But Martin said much of the credit for Julie’s success dated back to her early acting, singing and dancing roles in the Harwood Hams at Christ Church, where she was spotted at an early age by producer of 27 years, Roy Pearson.

Roy, now aged 87, told The Bolton News: “As a 12-year-old Julie appeared in a production of The Ring in 1984. I remember she was a little girl who had a very big voice and I gave her parts in the adult pantomimes.

“I also remembered thinking that this girl was going places and at all of our productions she always proved a big attraction to our audiences.

Martin added: “Thanks to the efforts of Roy, who is part of the theatrical backbone of Bolton, Julie got her big chance and from there she went as a teenager to the Bolton Octagon and told them she wanted to be an actress and within a few months was playing there and then she studied acting at Salford College from where she went into Coronation Street."

The Silent Child was screened at the Festival of Short Films at the first Bolton Film Festival last September in Bolton. And Roy was at the top of Julie’s guest list.

He added: “I am overwhelmed with the film’s success because it’s such a beautiful, beautiful film.”

In Bolton, the film won the Best Film For Change category and Mr Overton said: “The standard of films has just been absolutely brilliant and we are really proud to be part of Bolton Film Festival's first year. It has been such a professional festival!”

The organiser of last year’s festival, Adrian Barbar told The Bolton News: "It's amazing to wake up to the news that the film had won the award at the Oscars.

“We were the second film festival in the world to screen it, so we are so proud. We knew immediately it was something special so we invited the team to give a 40-minute screening and talk at our festival.”

Meanwhile Julie’s parents are hoping to get their hands on the Oscar when Julie returns from the USA.

Martin said: “She has now made her producing debut with this fantastic film, which she put both her heart and soul into and we are all very, very proud of her.”