A documentary about knife crime made by a Mill Hill student will be shown on national television next week.

Knife Crime, a five-minute film by Amienata Sillah, 19, of Bradshaw Drive, explores the reasons behind the current blight of knife culture.

Miss Sillah beat hundreds of other competitors to come second in a national competition judged by a panel that included documentary maker Nick Broomfield.

She said: "It's good to know my film will be on TV, because it can show people that teenagers are doing something about knife crime. Normally it's parents or teachers talking about it, not kids."

The competition was run jointly by Channel 4 and government-funded media charity Mediabox for disadvantaged 13 to 19-year-olds.

As one of nine finalists, Miss Sillah was given a budget of £500 to make her film and assigned a film industry mentor to guide her through.

She said: "Recently a schoolmate of mine was killed outside school so knife crime was the first thing that came to mind to make a film about."

Miss Sillah was two years above 15-year-old Kiyan Prince at London Academy, in Green Lane, Edgware, when he was fatally stabbed in May 2006.

Her documentary includes an interview with one of Kiyan's friends, as well as a man who survived a knife attack. Miss Sillah also draws on her own experiences of living on the Grahame Park estate, in Colindale, aged 11 to 15 years old.

She said: "The estate had lots of gangs and I would hear about violence going on. It was all about their territory. Just looking at someone in the wrong way could get you killed."

Now studying media and sociology at Goldsmiths in south London, Sillah hopes to work in journalism or broadcasting.

Knife Crime will air on Channel 4 on Tuesday at 10.25am and can be viewed at media-box.co.uk