The UK film, television and games industries turned out in force last night at the National Film and Television School’s annual fundraising Gala, which took place at Old Billingsgate in London and was sponsored by Ingenious.

NFTS reports that NFTS Scotland, its new hub based at BBC Scotland in Glasgow has had a successful first year with over 22 courses completed and over 170 course participants, half of which have received bursary-supported places. Course participants are expected to grow to over 400 per year once NFTS Scotland is running at full capacity.

Recent NFTS Directing and Producing Science and Natural History MA graduate, Matt Senior’s graduation film, Now Or Never, which highlights the plight of the rare Tapanuli orangutan has won the Best Short Documentary Award at the 2019 International Film Festival de Santa Cruz in Argentina at its first festival appearance. Having already screened at festivals across five continents, the next screening will be in London’s Leicester at British Documentary Film Festival Square on May 9.

StoryFutures Academy, the National Centre for Immersive Storytelling jointly run by the National Film and Television School (NFTS) and Royal Holloway, University of London, announces that its first co-funded immersive production, Common Ground, directed, produced and written by Darren Emerson has been selected for the Tribeca Film Festival. Common Ground can be experienced at the Festival’s Virtual Arcade, presented by AT&T which takes place between April 26th to May 4th 2019 in New York.