THE glitterati will be out in force tonight hoping to be seduced by the latest North-East film offering.

A star-studded evening is promised at The Gate cinema, in Newcastle, for the world premiere of School for Seduction.

Made and funded on Tyneside, the romantic comedy sees Kelly Brook playing an Italian temptress who travels to the North-East to teach Geordie women the art of seduction.

The film, which features Margi Clarke, Dervla Kirwan, Tim Healy and Neil Stuke in its cast, has given North-East newcomer Jessica Johnson her big screen break.

She was pulling pints in a pub in Felling, Gateshead, before winning the role of Donna, a mouthy check-out girl who seeks Ms Brook's advice on refining her ways to help woo men.

The £4m film was produced by Newcastle movie-makers Ipso Facto, backed by the Newcastle-Gateshead Initiative and Northern Film and Media.

It is the latest big screen production to be set in the region, following a list featuring Get Carter, Stormy Monday and Billy Elliott.

Producer Steve Bowden, managing director and co-founder of Ipso Facto Films, said: "Both myself and the director were born and brought up on Tyneside so it's important for us that the premiere takes place in Newcastle.

"It's good fun, a feel-good film, that's what we're pushing it as.

"I think it's good for the North-East and it's provided a lot of inward investment for the region.

"People involved in making it lived here and spent their money here."

* School for Seduction goes on general release on Friday.

Published: 29/11/2004