A young girl is addicted to heroin. She sometimes swears uncontrollably and her parents are anxious about what she is turning into. Will they be able to help before it's too late?

Tourettes Haiku is a new short film by Midlands-based company that will be screened at the Bite The Mango film festival in Bradford this week.

Conceptualised and written by filmmaker Balwantr Dass, it follows the story of a young girl, Sunni, who has Tourette's syndrome.

He explains: "Tourette’s syndrome causes people to swear uncontrollably. How would a father react if his daughter started to utter the most obscene language? Would he understand that she’s ill, or would he abandon her? In Tourettes Haiku, the character of Sunni is misunderstood and estranged from her family."

"Sunni turns to heroin to help her cope with her illness. The drugs act as her only release from the symptoms of Tourette’s. They stop her from swearing and give her a sense of peace."

The very well-made film explores Asian attitudes to mental illness, neurological disorders and drug-taking. It is Rainmaker-VF's first production and was funded by UK Film Council grant, part of a Digital Shorts scheme run by Screen West Midlands. The company normally makes promotional / educational films and music videos.

The biggest concern he says was to find a young Asian actress who could pull off the role. Eventually they found Rakhee Thakrar, also an actor on BBC Asian Network's soap Silver Street. Dass says she "brought a lot of vulnerability and sympathy to the role".

So what inspired the name and the topic?

"I was also interested in juxtaposing two extreme forms of language; Tourette’s is a spontaneous, uncontrolled, ugly use of language whereas Haiku is a very controlled, gentle and beautiful form of poetry. Both the Tourette’s and the Haiku reflect how extreme Sunni’s life has become.

"She gets into violent confrontations and steals to feed her drug addiction, but her life also has moments of tranquillity and beauty; her life is violent poetry.

"The Haiku help to represent Sunni’s state of mind when she is calm, feeling blissful, high on drugs. She uses heroin because it acts as her only release from Tourette’s syndrome."

It was Dass' first time as as director, and SW Midlands paired them with a more experienced film company, Dreamfinder Productions, to make it.

He plans to now take Tourettes Haiku to film festivals around the world and explore other ways of generating interest. First stop - Bradford.

If you would like a copy of Tourettes Haiku on DVD or VHS, email info@rainmaker-vf.com

www.rainmaker-vf.com