Cleo, a young librarian, is surprised to find a mysterious pyramid among her gran's possessions. And when she is granted the powers it contains, the only person she can turn to is her computer geek friend Adam. Can Cleo come to grips with her powers in time to save the pyramid from falling into the wrong hands?

From humble beginnings in early 2007, the idea for Cleo Crisis spiralled rapidly out of control.

It began as a name plucked from a conversation about nearly being run over by a Renault Clio. Someone said “Cleo Crisis! Hey, that sounds like a superhero!” And so she was born. For months ideas were kicked around relating to the name: could she be an innocent pedestrian, hit by a Renault Clio and suddenly in possession of mysterious car-like abilities? Or perhaps a lab assistant, granted powers by an experiment and locked in battle against a gender-changing supervillain? No, decided director Gavin Laing, eventually. She should be a librarian. And when Gavin says something with such certainty, you know you're looking at the start of another awesomely fun Beyond Studios project.

Over the months that followed we set about plotting and scripting – Gavin had been interested in Egyptian mythology as a film subject for some time, and since it fit nicely with the name, it became a central component of the Cleo story. Alex Perry took on the challenge of turning our plot into a script, and even before numerous revisions, hit the nail pretty squarely on the head with his first draft. Props and costumes were created, locations scouted, dates set. Beyond Studios veteran Heather Bowry was cast as Cleo, and the talented young Daniel Naftalin was roped in to play Adam. The loyal Beyond Studios crowd gamely stepped up once more to take up cameras, microphones, clapperboards, acting roles and more, as the summer holiday of 2007 rolled along and principal photography on Cleo Crisis & The Arcane Artefact began.

It was an arduous process, as we had all known it would be. Not everything went smoothly. Scheduling was always tight and some days were more stressful than others. Several scenes had to be reshot. Even more testing was the editing process, which predictably took months longer than we'd hoped, but we needed that time to assemble and reassemble scenes, tweak shots, get last minute pick-ups, polish special effects, compose and mix music and jump the numerous technical hurdles placed in our way by fate.

The film was finished mere days before its premiere in August 2008, and we can proudly say that it was made with no funding and absolutely zero help from professional film makers. Yes, it was hard, but all of us believe it was worth it. We hope you agree.

In the months following the premiere at the Edinburgh Filmhouse, the film was subsequentally screened at Diverse Attractions during the Fringe Festival, and again at the Corstorphine Youth and Community Centre. We hope to submit it to various Film Festivals in the coming year.