Ratcatcher may be Lynne Ramsay's first feature, but the young Scottish writer-director is no stranger to Cannes: she's already won the Cannes Grand Prix De Jury twice for her short films Small Deaths and Gasman.

Although Ramsay describes Ratcatcher as "the least auto- biographical film I have ever made", it is set in locations she remembers well enough from her childhood - namely the streets of Govan in Glasgow.

The central character is 12-year-old James Gillespie (William Eadie), a youngster who spends the summer playing at the local canal. Little James' life is irrevocably changed when he is implicated in the drowning of a friend.

Ramsay was determined to avoid the whimsy and mawkishness that tarnishes so many films with children in the lead roles. "I was looking for kids who'd never acted before," she says, explaining her decision to use an audition process which required her to see more than 1,000 hopefuls. "I wanted someone who was robust, who was tough and who knew a bit about life."

Enter "streetwise, intelligent" Eadie, an actor who seemed to know instinctively how to behave in front of the cameras. "And he had a great face; a face which looked as if it had been lived in a bit."

The transition from shorts to feature film-making proved more difficult than Ramsay had anticipated. "With the amount of time that went into pre-production and the size of the crew, it was tough at times. It was much more like a big machine." Persistence was the key to getting her own way. "That and not giving people any options..."

Ramsay is already busy adapting Alan Warner's novel, Morvem Caller, which she plans to make into a feature for Company Pictures. In the meantime, she's very glad to be back in Cannes. "Gilles Jacob asked to see the film. It's really nice to know that the people at the festival take an interest in your work and are familiar with it." Geoffrey Macnab