YORK film director Mark Herman has premiered his new romantic comedy, Hope Springs, in a charity preview at City Screen, York, in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care.

"How excited I am to be able to preview one of my films in my home town - and for the first time I have turned down travel expenses!" he said, introducing last night's £15-a-ticket gala and reception.

"It's nice for York to be able to see this film before it opens... and before the poor people of London village. If you enjoy it, tell your friends; if you don't, you've only got a month to keep quiet!"

For Hope Springs, the York writer-director of Brassed Off, Little Voice and Purely Belter has adapted the novel New Cardiff by Charles Webb, writer of The Graduate.

In this American comedy about letting go of the past and embracing the future, British artist Colin Ware (played by Colin Firth) discovers that fiance Vera (Minnie Driver) is to marry another man. So he escapes to the tiny New England village of Hope where he tries to forget his troubles by drawing the faces of the town's many eccentrics.

Still distraught, he finds more than a shoulder to cry on when his innkeepers introduce him to Mandy (Heather Graham), a beautiful nurse. However, no sooner has Colin all but consigned his old flame to history than Vera shows up.

Hope Springs (certificate 12A) opens nationwide on May 9.

Updated: 11:26 Friday, April 11, 2003