Teen mum becomes toast of Cannes

British teenager Katie Jarvis has earned the praise of critics and audiences at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in Fish Tank.

Jarvis, 17, had never acted before when she was spotted rowing with her boyfriend at Tilbury train station. Fish Tank's casting director invited her to audition and she subsequently won the role of a troubled teen whose life changes when she befriends her mother's boyfriend.

Fish Tank was given a standing ovation when it screened on the Croisette yesterday. However, Jarvis was not in attendance for the premiere as she was at home in the UK looking after her two-week-old baby.

"I don't think she quite understands what it means," the film's director Andrea Arnold told The Independent. "She has got an agent and she's been up for a couple of things which she's got but hasn't taken. I don't know if she wants to continue. I think she does but she has just had a baby."

Jarvis said of her experience on Fish Tank: "I learnt a lot doing the film. Whereas before I was doing nothing all the time, it made me learn that I could do things if I wanted to... It shows you don't have to go to drama school. But I think I was one of a kind, I don't think anyone else will get picked off a train station."

Fish Tank is competing for the prestigious Palme D'Or prize at Cannes against films such as Inglourious Basterds, Looking For Eric and Taking Woodstock. The winner will be announced on May 24.