Film debut for murdered model

For the whole of her tragically short life, Kadamba Simmons craved fame and most who knew her agreed she was a star soon to shine.

Now two years after her naked body was found with a belt around her neck in the shower of an Islington flat, the shampoo model and archetypal It girl of the Nineties will achieve her lifelong goal from beyond the grave.

Appropriately enough for such a voracious party girl, her film The Wonderland Experience will have its first screening at the Café de Paris nightclub in Leicester Square.

The film's writer and producer Andrew Brown says the 82-minute feature film, loosely based on Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, is a fitting tribute to his leading actress's life and talent.

Brown, 30, said: "It's almost certainly her best performance and she really comes across as a true talent of the future who has been cruelly snatched away.

"Hearing about her death was a real blow and for three to four months we left the film to one side - we just couldn't face looking at her beautiful face staring out at us, knowing what had happened to her.

After a lot of soul searching, however, we became even more determined to finish the film. For her sake as much as our own."

Following her "discovery" by Eighties pop star Matt Goss, her launch into modelling and a whirlwind lifestyle of non-stop parties, Kadamba began to win film roles.

After several bit parts in low-budget films, at 24 she managed to break into Hollywood and starred alongside Julia Roberts in Mary Reilly.

In an ironic twist, The Wonderland Experience was filmed in 1997 at the Indian beach resort of Goa - the same place she first met her killer Yaniv Malka. The 21-year-old ex-Israeli paratrooper murdered her after a three-month affair, fearing she was about to ditch him. After denying murder, alleging that her death was the result of a suicide pact, Malka was found guilty at the Old Bailey and jailed for life on 29 March 1999. In February this year three Appeal Court judges unanimously rejected his claims that he had not received a fair trial.

The film, directed by Ben Rayment, tells the story of Charlie, who wakes up on a beach in India and embarks on a picaresque adventure in search of his missing father. Kadamba plays the romantic interest, Jodie, who meets Charlie as she wanders out of the sea. They rapidly fall in love and she joins him on his quest.

Described by Brown as "a surreal fantasy" with an upbeat dance music soundtrack, the film was shot on Super 16mm using Western travellers to make up the numbers.