NFTS Presents...Crossroads Festival 2026

In 2025, a team of National Film and Television School Creative Business students created Crossroads Festival, a new student-run event hosted at the NFTS’s main campus in Buckinghamshire, that aimed to highlight and celebrate diverse forms of creativity across every course at the NFTS. Born from the idea that sometimes our best work can stay hidden in studios or hard drives, the name itself reflects the shared journey of students at the intersection of their careers, navigating different paths towards their creative futures.

The inaugural festival was a great success so this year the baton was passed to Sormeh, Lyza, Katrin and Tilly, another group of Creative Business students and on Friday 27 March the 2nd annual Crossroads Festival took over the NFTS with screenings, live music, food and exhibitions.

We caught up with the 2026 team to find out more.

What was the overarching vision for Crossroads 2026?

At the core, we held onto the same ethos from last year’s festival, namely the focus on inclusion and celebration of work across domains. Keeping the successes of the inaugural version in mind, we sought to expand the festival’s offerings even further this year.

This ranged from the audio-visual installation in the TV Studio and a sleek sponsor photo-wall to a conversation with industry professionals and a new series of workshops– model making, sound mixing and speed networking.

We worked closely in tandem with four stellar curators— Daisy, Will, Nico and Aisha — who formed the selection committee. Not to mention our wonderful production design and lighting team, made up of Paula, Serafina, Jasmine, Nicole, Min, and Elizaveta. Stay tuned for our recap video, filmed by Henry and edited by Liz! And a big shout out to Will, our photographer.

Who submitted projects?

Students across every discipline submitted work including Model Making, Production Design, Games, Sound Design, Composing, VFX, Cinematography, Documentary, Fiction, Science and Natural History, TV, and the new YouTube Creator Incubator course. We’re proud to share that we received nearly 70 submissions this year!

What were the key themes and trends?

Similarly to last year, our curators programmed the works into three strands: Home, Create, and Debate. ‘Home’ spoke to a sense of memory and relationships, ‘Create’ encompassed experimentation and playfulness, while ‘Debate’ explored the spaces where certainty is replaced by a sense of ambiguity.

Having wrapped on the 2026 edition - what are your final thoughts?

We’re really proud of this year’s edition of Crossroads Festival, the team helped build an event that completely captured the collaborative and creative nature of the NFTS. We had 200 people attend and we’re really grateful for their support. The team is also incredibly grateful to the NFTS for giving us the space to think outside the box and put on a really memorable experience for attendees.

The Crossroads Team would also like to give a huge thank you to all of our sponsors and contributors including all the students who submitted their work or volunteered, our sponsors Clearspring and ShakaCan and finally our food vendors El Dorado Taqueria, who came all the way from Edinburgh and put so much effort into keeping everyone fuelled and enjoying the festival!

Find out more about the layout and programme of Crossroads 2026 here.

Interested in festivals and running events like these?
Check out these courses that give you the skills you need to curate incredible events like this one here.