Meet the Immersive Storytelling Lab Cohort 2026.

Over the weekend, we were joined by ten brilliant filmmakers from across the Midlands and industry experts for the first Midlands Immersive Storytelling Lab.

The two-day introduction to immersive storytelling offered writers and directors a valuable opportunity to consider how visual storytelling could extend beyond the traditional screen, while giving them practical knowledge and steps on creating work for different media.

The lab was led by award-winning immersive filmmaker Alex Rühl, and we were joined by industry guests Charlotte Mikkelborg Series Director of Apple TV's Adventure, Dr Maruša Levstek, PhD Lecturer in Technology & Culture / User Research Lead at Co-STAR National Lab and Bertie Millis, COO of Virtual Umbrella.

We also had the opportunity to experience Goliath from Anagram, an episode of  Apple TV's Adventure and the first BFI NETWORK XR short film Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alex Rûhl.

Through hands-on sessions, the filmmakers gained practical tools, a shared creative language, and the confidence to explore new narrative possibilities across virtual, interactive, and immersive media.

We are excited to see where the cohort take their newly developed skills and are proud to introduce them...

Her key credits include the BFI NETWORK-funded ‘A Different Place’ (festival selections included VIFF, BFI Flare, Norwich, Flatpack, and many others), ‘Night Owls’ (which premiered at LSFF), and most recently ‘Lacuna’, which was made through Amazon Prime Video and the National Film Television School as part of their prestigious Directors Workshop. She was the Director’s Shadow on series 1 of ‘Sanctuary: A Witch’s Tale’ (AMC Studios / Sundance Now), and series 2 of ‘Boarders’ (BBC / Studio Lambert. In addition, Sophie is the founder of the production company Triskelle Pictures Ltd.,through which she produced multiple films including ‘Good Grief’, starring Vicky McClure (which premiered at Slamdance), and ‘Stop/Eject’, which premiered at Raindance before being longlisted for a BAFTA for Best British Short Film. Sophie is a member of BAFTA Connect, Cinesisters, and Directors UK, and she was accepted into BFI NETWORK x BAFTA Crew in both 2018 and 2019.

He’s interested in the audience’s relationship with a given medium, and experimenting with the form to deepen their immediate experience. Cal’s work in educational media, with organisations including the BBC and Oxford University Press, uses humour and storytelling to engage increasingly hard-to-reach audiences. He’s written, developed and directed across many highly-praised courses and has managed large commissions in editorial roles. He’s fascinated by how new media is fundamentally changing storytelling, and the importance of the stories we tell to, and about, children. Having left education before completing his A Levels, Cal recently completed an MA in Writing for Script and Screen, and is developing new work alongside his role at BBC Bitesize. His short fiction, and pieces on film and culture, have been published in Hot Shoe and Hero Magazine.

She works across screen, theatre, live events, and production, with a strong focus on original IP development, storytelling, and audience engagement. Through Transition Stage Company, Natalie has produced over 50 theatre productions, alongside multiple films and digital

theatre projects. A central part of her practice is adapting theatre IP for the screen, with films developed from stage work receiving nominations at multiple festivals, including Oscar-qualifying festivals. Her producing work centres on identifying strong narrative voices and shaping IP from live performance into screen and digital formats, while building sustainable production pathways for new work. Natalie is the founder of Enter.Stage.Write and StoryTown – Ideas You Own, platforms dedicated to championing original writing, IP ownership, and access to the screen industries.

His work has screened at Oscar and BAFTA-qualifying festivals and received international distribution. He is a member of Directors UK and the Head of Screen and Audio at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

She is an award-winning poetry filmmaker, has composed for film and television, and has built prototype experiences in VR and gaming environments. Drawn to the poetic, she is a fan of all things eerie, haunted, beautiful and atmospheric. Rebecca has previously worked in the creative and cultural industries as a strategic consultant, creative producer and programme manager, with a passion for developing partnerships and projects that have social impact. She has delivered UK-wide R&D and project management for the BFI Film Audience Network, has worked in partnership with organisations such as the British Council and BFI Southbank, and now works part-time as Innovation Director and Producer for ForMed Films – a BAFTA-winning animation studio making lived-experience films for healthcare and social good.

She trained at RADA where she won the Michael Ross Award for her debut play PATTERNS and has since gone on to train on programmes with Mercury, Arvon Foundation, Soho Theatre, New Perspectives, Rural Media, Pentabus and BFI Midlands. With a flair for seeing the creative potential of new technologies in live performance alongside extensive screen experience working as a 3rd Assistant Director on major HETV productions such as Ted Lasso, Pride and Prejudice and Heartstopper, she’s currently developing several projects that integrate screen, live performance and technology to reflect the multilayered ways we engage with stories in our increasingly digital world. Participating in the Immersive Storytelling Lab is a hugely exciting chance to expand these ideas and discover new ways to engage audiences.

Based in Northampton, his work is defined by an avant-garde visual language forged in the trenches and a radical belief that stories from the most unlikely places hold the most value. Having led large-scale commercial productions and high-impact social narratives with teams of up to fifty across cast and crew, Azim sees filmmaking as a vehicle for self-expression and collective progress; he believes that sharing underrepresented stories is the key to giving back and moving the culture forward.

He brings an eye for cinematics and visual language to his work in narrative design, level design, and interactive fiction, using a technical toolkit that includes virtual production, motion capture, and real-time engines to bridge the gap between imagination and execution.

Alongside this, James is a founder and director for Tentacle Media Ltd, a small animation studio based in the midlands who have been creating content for broadcasters and businesses for 15 years.

His debut feature film, 'My Everest', was released theatrically across the UK in 2023 to positive reviews. He currently runs a creative agency with a focus on capturing people, places, and culture, to support the promotion of global brands and national tourism agencies.