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, Kaysar Kasim reveals the importance of location in telling a powerful story of displacement, labour and belonging in Left Behind, Still Standing.

Please can you share an overview of your film?

Left Behind, Still Standing follows Morana, an immigrant environmental scientist sent to oversee the dismantling of a steel factory. As she struggles with the uncertainty of her own future, she discovers that at night the factory mysteriously comes back to life, run by the “ghosts” of its former workers.

The film explores themes of displacement, labour and belonging. Both Morana and the workers exist in a state of transition, caught between staying and disappearing. The factory becomes a space where memory and identity continue to exist, even as the world moves on.

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

Vida Skerk, the director, and I began our early conversations by sharing our personal life experiences. We both grew up in environments marked by their industrial past, and an evolving present, and I personally understood this world, having worked in a wind power plant and grown up in a neighborhood near a coal-fired power station in Xinjiang. This gave me a deep familiarity with this environment. This background allowed us to relate to the emotional world of the film very intuitively, and we quickly found a shared visual language rooted in memory and lived experience.

We wanted the factory to feel like a character, not just a location. Morana is an outsider there, and we expressed her loneliness through the scale and atmosphere of the industrial spaces. At the same time, the factory also carries memory and presence.

Visually, we didn’t want the camera to feel expressive or dramatic, but instead quiet and patient – this led us to use mostly static, tripod-based frames with minimal movement. This allowed the audience to observe her from a distance and feel her isolation. The tone was lonely and poetic.

We also created a contrast between two worlds. The day scenes feels cold, distant and empty. Inside the factory at night, when the “ghosts” of the laid-off workers appear and inhabit it again, it becomes warmer and alive again. This helped express her emotional and psychological state.

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

Vida and I spent time watching archival films from the BFI Player collection “Steel on Film”. This body of work spans the 20th century and documents the processes, environments and people connected to the steel industry. These films were important references for us, as they revealed not only the physical reality of the factory, but also its emotional and social significance. They helped us understand the relationship between the workers and the industrial space, and the quiet dignity within these environments.

We were also deeply inspired by Sebastião Salgado’s photographic series Workers. His images capture the scale, physicality and humanity of industrial labour in a way that feels both monumental and intimate. His use of composition, atmosphere, and the presence of the human figure within vast industrial landscapes was particularly influential in shaping how we approached the factory and Morana’s relationship to it.

While we did not reference one specific film directly, we were drawn to the cinematic language of Aki Kaurismäki. His restrained compositions, stillness, and understated emotional tone resonated strongly with us. His films often portray isolation and human vulnerability with a quiet poetic sensitivity, which was very much aligned with the emotional world we wanted to create.

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

Our locations included several spaces within the NFTS campus in Beaconsfield, such as a small practical set, a finance office, and campus exterior areas, as well as a working men’s club in Wooburn Green, a street in Chesterfield, and most importantly, the United Cast Bar factory in Chesterfield. The director and I also briefly travelled to Port Talbot for some exterior shots. No major sets were constructed, but our production designer, Maria, did an incredible job, especially when it comes to transforming the mundane NFTS finance office into a believable testing lab and office on factory premises that fit naturally within the world of the film.

The steel factory presented the biggest challenge. Due to health and safety restrictions, we had to shoot when the factory was not working, during their routine summer maintenance break. This meant that the factory was completely shut down, and we had to recreate the feeling that it was still alive and functioning. The scale of the space was also immense, which made it difficult to control and shape the environment visually.

In addition, this maintenance break only started right before our shoot dates, so our access to the premises was limited during prep. All this required careful planning and many return visits to understand how to use the space effectively. However, these challenges also helped us shape the visual approach, as we truly got to know, bit by bit, the factory’s visual strengths and logistical weaknesses.

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?

I would first like to thank Simon Surtees at ARRI Rental for providing the camera package and giving me the opportunity to spend a full day testing. After that, I chose the ARRI Alexa Mini LF with ARRI DNA Prime lenses. The Mini LF’s large-format sensor gave us a strong sense of scale and depth, which was important to portray Morana within the vast industrial environment, while still allowing intimacy in her close-ups. Its dynamic range also helped us capture the subtle tones of night interiors; I used EI 1600 for some of dark scenes.

The DNA Primes felt right for this project because of their organic, imperfect character. The gentle fall-off toward the edges complemented the rough-hewn quality of the story. They rendered skin tones with a natural softness and performed beautifully in low light, helping the factory environment feel less mechanical and more human, and more emotionally alive.

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

Camera movement was used very selectively and always motivated by Morana’s emotional perspective rather than for its own sake. Most of the film is shot in a static, tripod-based way, allowing the audience to observe her from a distance and feel her isolation within the industrial space. When we introduced movement, it was usually subtle, using slider push-ins or small dolly moves to gently bring the audience closer to her internal state. Inside the factory, we used a long slider move in the opening sequence when Morana first sees the factory alive at night. This movement was important because it reflects her shift in perception — the factory transforms from a cold, shutdown place into something living and unfamiliar. 

Colour played an important role in separating the two worlds. The exterior was colder and more desaturated, while inside the factory, warmer tones and practical industrial light helped create a sense of presence and life. Together, movement, framing and colour helped express her emotional journey and relationship with the space.

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

The biggest challenge was the steel factory, It’s an extremely large industrial space, and we were shooting at night with limited time and access. The scale could easily fall into darkness, so the key was to selectively shape areas of the frame and create depth, rather than trying to light everything. We were very fortunate to have support from Greenkit, who provided us with a generous discount, which allowed us to work with SkyPanel X. They became our main source for creating structure in the space. The fire effect on the SkyPanel X was particularly useful, and combined with the smoke machine it helped introduce movement, texture, and a sense of heat into the frame, making the factory feel alive again.

I’m very grateful to my gaffer Finley Grover and the lighting team, who did an incredible job working in a difficult environment and helping bring these ideas to life.

What were you trying to achieve in the grade?

Our intention in the grade was to preserve the organic texture and natural tones we had created in camera, and to enhance the emotional contrast between the two worlds. The exterior feels colder and more distant, while the factory interiors, especially at night, feel warmer and more alive.

We were careful not to over-polish the image. It was important that the film still felt honest and grounded, and that the atmosphere of the location and the character’s emotional state remained truthful.

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

Aside from the factory, another challenging location was the school office. The windows were west-facing, so the direction and intensity of the sunlight changed significantly throughout the day, which made continuity difficult. At the same time, because we had shots looking directly outside the windows, we couldn’t apply ND or cover the glass without affecting the realism.

Instead, we controlled the light externally. We used 12×12 solids and silks to block and soften the direct sunlight, and then used a Nanlux Evoke 2400 and SkyPanel x to recreate and shape the sunlight. This allowed us to maintain consistency and gave us much more control while preserving the naturalistic feel of the space.

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

I would say there were a few moments I’m really proud of, especially the work we achieved inside the factory. We had very limited crew and equipment, and it was a huge, complex space, which made everything more challenging.

Since we could only shoot when the factory was shut down, we relied heavily on lighting and atmosphere to recreate the feeling of it being alive. The summer nights were very short, so everything had to be done in a very limited amount of time, which made it even more demanding.

The camera and lighting departments worked incredibly hard under these conditions, and I’m very grateful to have had such a dedicated team on this film.

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

So many lessons! One of the most important for me was how crucial location is to storytelling. I believe a location is not just a space, but also a character in the film, whether it’s an interior or exterior. It shapes the atmosphere, the blocking, and the emotional tone of the scene.

Of course, not every project allows you the time or freedom to find the perfect location, but this experience taught me the value of fighting for the right one as much as possible. It also helped me understand how to adapt and respond to a location creatively, rather than forcing ideas onto it. This is something I’m still learning with every project, and it’s an ongoing journey for me as a cinematographer.