A young British film-maker whose graduation film has attracted the interest of Sir Ian McKellen and Steve Coogan was hailed at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday as “one of the great animation directors of the future”.

British films might be conspicuous by their absence from this year’s Palme d’Or competition, but Joe Tucker, who graduated from the National Film and Television School in London just two months ago, is flying the flag with his first film.

For the Love of God, an 11-minute animation for adults, has been picked from 1,200 entries from 70 countries for one of the festival’s most prestigious official programmes.

Tucker told The Times yesterday that he was shocked that a film that he had directed, animated and co-wrote had been singled out for such an accolade. It was submitted to the festival by the NFTS.

“I don’t think I have ever been more surprised in my life,” he said. The film is an irreverent story about an overgrown “man-child” called Graham who lives under the suffocating glare of his domineering mother and her jackdaw, “a manky, old, caged bird”, in a dusty Christian bookshop.

Excited by its humour and originality, Sir Ian and Coogan, the comic actor, recited the voices of the jackdaw and Graham, respectively. Laurent Jacob, who selected the animation for the festival, said: “The film is witty and very well made. Joe Tucker will definitely become one of the great animation directors of the future. He is so talented.”

Tucker was born in Warrington, Cheshire, and has wanted to make films for as long as he can remember. He co-wrote the film with Raphael Warner, 27, a fellow NFTS graduate. On a “wild whim” he sent the script to Sir Ian’s agent. The actor called a couple of weeks later saying that he wanted to appear in it.

Recalling how they took the NFTS’s best recording equipment to Sir Ian’s apartment in East London to record his lines, Tucker said: “For two hours I got to direct the greatest actor of his generation, which I was utterly unqualified to do but I gave it my best.”

He was also nervous about working with Coogan, “the comedy actor I most admire”. He said: “I spoke to him about what I thought Graham would sound like. I think I said, ‘I imagine him to sound like a cross between Alan Bennett and Zippy from Rainbow – a certain timid homeliness with a dash of camp bratishness’. Based on that, Steve immediately began speaking in precisely the voice I had imagined for Graham, except even better.”

For the Love of God, which will be premiered on May 23, is one of 16 films selected for the Cinéfondation section of the festival, which promotes the new generation of film-makers.

Nik Powell, director of the NFTS, said of Mr Tucker’s selection: “That’s a real honour. It’s one of the toughest to get into. The film is wonderful, and slightly outrageous. It’s very funny but very human, simple and entertaining.”

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of 2009
• The 100 Worst Movies of 2009
• The 100 Best Films of the Decade