The NFTS Graduate Showcase 2026, supported by BBC Studios, celebrates the culmination of over 500 students’ work towards over 80 inspiring and original short films, TV shows, commercials and games.

The showcase is an opportunity for members of the screen industries to see firsthand the work of NFTS’ graduating students and to meet the next generation of film, television and games makers that will be shaping the industry for years to come.

British Cinematographer takes you behind the scenes to explore the 10 films screened at the Fiction Graduate Showcase, including interviews with the cinematographers, stills and shots taken during filming for each incredible production.

Here, Monaya Abel explains how White Knuckle Summer tackles a difficult subject through an empathetic lens.

Please can you share an overview of your film?

In a divided British seaside town, 10-year-old Ruby forms an unlikely friendship with Hasset, an asylum seeker living in a local hotel, as one summer of freedom collides with the threat of rising anti-migrant protests. 

What were your initial discussions about the visual approach for the film? What look and mood were you trying to achieve? 

Jason Hogan (writer/director) brought a great level of understanding and sensitivity towards the reality of what it’s like to view the world today through a child’s eyes, and I really wanted to honour that visually. So we ended up leaning into a very free, naturalistic shooting style – working mostly handheld at both Ruby and Hasset’s eye level. This allowed us to really be led by the kids and gave us the flexibility to lean into those tiny moments of connection or division that are often easily overlooked.

The subjectivity that this approach brought became our anchor and we wanted it to subtly evolve and change with the girls. As their friendship blossoms our camera brings a playful curiosity to their short-lived freedom, often roaming and exploring with them. It later gains an unsettling weight as we transition to Steadicam for the riot sequence and out of that becomes restless.

At its core, the film is about opposition, not only within the rising political unrest, but also within the characters and their environments. Ruby’s caught in a state of transition, on the cusp of losing her childhood and torn between friendship and inherited prejudice in this forgotten seaside town. We wanted the look to hold onto that fragility and almost freeze it in time with a level of naturalistic honesty. 

What were your creative references and inspirations? Which films, still photography or paintings were you influenced by? 

Our references mostly ended up falling into two visual categories: perspective and nostalgia. We knew we wanted the visual language of a child’s perspective to feel universal, and for us this meant creating a kind of bitter-sweet nostalgia was the right language to do so.

A couple of our main references for subjectivity and point of view included Lynne Ramsay’s Gasman and Laura Wandel’s Playground. Ramsay has this beautiful sensitivity to small details which influenced how we approached moments of connection, and Playground’s total commitment to a child’s perspective was what inspired us to shoot mostly at their eye level. We felt this brought a great deal of empathy whilst also allowing the world around them to feel quietly apathetic.

We also looked at a lot of still photography of faded British seaside towns, and kept coming back to the works of Rob Ball and Barry Lewis, who captured the vibrant yet melancholic nostalgia of these spaces. 

What filming locations were used? Were any sets constructed? Did any of the locations present any challenges? 

We shot entirely on location in Clacton-on-Sea, mainly at a disused council building that we transformed into the hotel. On the first recce we found this long, L-shaped glass corridor at the back and immediately saw its potential, especially for the riot, because the space already held so much tension in how exposed it felt.

The glass was perfect but completely unforgiving. There were very few spots I could hide lights/textiles and reflections were constant – so every setup became a puzzle. The glass corridor is adjacent to the reception area and its frames all intersect with the reception windows. So when lighting Linda’s job hunt scene, our key light had to come through a very narrow gap, which ended up defining the rest of our approach for that space.

I initially thought Hasset’s bedroom would also prove challenging. The room was originally much larger and had a sun path that tracked across both windows. Our wonderful production designer, Rosalind Crisp, bordered up one window and built flats to compress the rest of the room into something more intimate. That shift really helped with the emotional feeling of that space and gave me more control over the light. 

Can you explain your choice of camera and lenses and what made them suitable for this production and the look you were trying to achieve? 

From early on, Jason and I knew that shooting on film was the right format for this story. We wanted a kind of organic tactility to the girls’ friendship. Something soft and nostalgic that could capture the feeling of childhood as if it were a memory, but still allowed every frame to feel raw and alive.

Film naturally gave us that and also rendered the skin tones of our cast beautifully and honestly. I knew I needed a flexible stock because so much of the film consisted of day exteriors, so after testing, I landed on 35mm 200T. It had a subtle softness that felt right for their world but also held the clarity I needed for moments of tension. We shot on the Arricam LT, and I’m incredibly grateful for the support of One Stop Films, who were kind enough to host my tests and provide a set of Ultra Primes. These lenses had the sharpness and contrast I wanted, and gave us an undistorted view into the girls’ perspective. 

What role did camera movement, composition and framing, and colour play in the visual storytelling? 

We chose to shoot 2-perf because of its natively widescreen frame. That width naturally gave the environment a greater presence around Ruby, whilst still allowing for balanced two-shots when the girls connect. In moments of freedom, our handheld camera roams with them and they fill each other’s frames. Then, in moments of disconnect, this same width lets the world close in and you feel Ruby’s isolation against it.

Both my operators, Alex Kingston and Rob O’Kelly, had brilliant eyes for this and were very responsive to what we found with the kids. Our use of colour was also closely tied to this language. We wanted a quiet but constant visual reminder of the political atmosphere, so we looked for ways to bring red, white and blue into almost every frame. This also informed my stock choice. I was really drawn to the depth 200T gives to its reds and felt that it would let those tones carry a tension and subtle intensity. 

What was your approach to lighting the film? Which was the most difficult scene to light? 

Working with children required flexibility from all departments and lighting was no different. We wanted to give them the space to find moments organically, so this often meant having as little equipment in the room as possible. With our approach leaning into naturalism, we worked mostly with available light wherever we could and only brought in fixtures when they felt motivated by the space itself.

I’m beyond thankful to Greenkit for helping make this possible, and to my gaffer, James Hawkins, who was brilliant at finding ways to hide lights in locations that we didn’t always have a lot of control over. This meant we could still add shape without losing the existing character of these spaces.

Our biggest challenge was probably lighting for the riot sequence which plays out in a Steadicam oner, moving through multiple spaces (including the glass corridor). We saw pretty much a full 360 degrees, so had to pre-light these areas in advance whilst another scene was still being completed. This wasn’t our only challenge. We also had to keep our levels across each different space within a workable range so that I could pull iris throughout the move without drawing attention to that transition. 

What were you trying to achieve in the grade? 

During the grade we really wanted to stay true to what we’d captured on our negative. The stock already gave us the softness and texture we needed, so the grade became less about building a look and more about bringing life and cohesion to what’s already there.

A lot of the heavy lifting was bringing narratively continuous shots (but shot across different times of day and weather) into the same tonal world. Whenever we pushed too hard for colour consistency it started to feel imposed, so we kept coming back to the same instinct: If it felt forced, it probably wasn’t right. 

Which elements of the film were most challenging to shoot and how did you overcome those obstacles? 

There were a lot of moments that could technically qualify as the most challenging (like the riot sequence or having very little time to find and shoot meaningful moments in the arcade), but honestly the real challenge sat at the heart of the film. Working with children on 35mm. Building trust with the girls was very important to us and we worked on this from day one. I was lucky enough to attend one of Jason’s early rehearsals with them, which gave me a sense of how they interacted (and also reminded me of just how unpredictable kids can be!).

Starting that relationship early meant I understood the space I needed to create for them on set and could remain open to whatever they brought, rather than forcing moments and burning through stock. Funnily enough, that trust came back the other way too. They became really curious about what I was doing, which lead to what we started calling “the light meter game”. Probably something I shouldn’t have introduced… because every time I went to take their readings they wanted to guess their stop or have a go with my meter. 

What was your proudest moment throughout the production process or which scene/shot are you most proud of? 

I think the moments I’m most proud of came from total spontaneity, particularly during the play sequence in the middle of the film. In the arcade, along the pier and on the beach, the kids were finding small, authentic moments together in these richly textured locations. That’s when the subjectivity and nostalgia we’d been chasing really came alive. I’m especially proud of how my camera and lighting teams adapted with me. They kept everything running smoothly, not only across this sequence, but also throughout our shoot.

What lessons did you learn from this production that you will take with you onto future productions?  

I took so many lessons from this production, but the biggest has to be to always trust my gut and stay open to what’s in front of me – even the tiniest moment can surprise you.

Oh, and NEVER let your light meter get anywhere near sand!