A former Croydon schoolgirl has set her sights on the prestigious BAFTA awards, after a overcoming a crippling rare form of epilepsy which affected her ‘once to twice a day’.

Claudia Merlini, from Coulsdon, has produced her graduate short film ‘Displaced’ after falling into film production when her illness first stuck six years ago.

Then at Coloma Convent girls school, the film fanatic had to be home schooled, after numerous seizures affected her ‘once to twice a day’.

The 21-year-old said: “I went into film when I was in Coloma I became ill and had to be home schooled, I wanted to be an actor then because of my illness went into lighting and camera work, I always loved films growing up.”

The 18 minute film follows a man who searches for his son after years of sleeping rough and features well-known actor Clive Russell - who has appeared in Game of Thrones, Sherlock Holmes and Thor - after a chance meeting with the assistant director Joe Kidd. He starred in Croydon-based film Uncle last year.

The illness known as ‘dissociative seizures’, is triggered by a psychological imbalance in the body rather than a physical imbalance, as known in the more common form of epilepsy.

Claudia, now a Digital Film student at Ravensbourne University said: “It has been a really great experience, I know I am going to be a filmmaker, it is what I have always wanted to do. It is the art of storytelling. I want to make people think.”