CHILDREN got to live the life of Hollywood stars as they sat back in plush cinema seats and watched their very own films come to life.

Schoolchildren got dolled up in their glad rags to attend Bicester's very own answer the the Oscars, staged at the Vue cinema in Pioneer Square on Thursday.

The event saw the curtain come down on the seventh annual Bicester Schools Film Festival and dozens of smiling kids were handed awards.

Coming up trumps and bagging the best film overall was Finmere School, which took home the title with The Lost Pyramid.

The short film was written, directed and acted by Year 6 students James Hughff, Ed Odley and George Pearson and was based on their recent school topic Ancient Egyptians.

Ed, 11, said: "I was chuffed to go up there to collect the Best Overall Film award out of all the schools that were there."

The boys' film told the tale of a time-travelling explorer who finds himself lost inside a pyramid but, with the help of a treasure hunter, the explorer finds clues helping to transport him back to school.

It was filmed in the school grounds and used green screen techniques and clever sound effects. Teacher Nancy Batsford was also recognised as Best Film Facilitator at the awards ceremony.

Classmate James, 11, said: "We were all really happy about winning the Best Overall Film. A lot of hard work went into filming and editing our film."

George, 11, added: "We had worked really hard to get this."

Finmere School also took home the award for best film in both Year 5/6 and Year 3/4.

Organisers said this year's film festival was bigger than ever, with more than 750 pupils involved in creating more than 60 films to be shown on the big screen.

Other winners on the night included Southwold Primary School foundation stage pupils, who won Best Film in their age category for Alice in Southwoldland.

Chesterton Primary School took home Best film for Year 1 and 2 with its short film The Gingerbread Man and Best Animation film was won by Charlton-on-Otmoor Primary School for its creation Finn and the Time Travelling Orb.

The film festival is staged by Bicester Learning and Partnership ICT group and supported by the developers of the Kingsmere site Countryside Property.