Emma Knights A young movie director from Fakenham has been given a Royal Television Society award for one of his films.Former Fakenham College student Will McGregor was given the RTS Southern Centre accolade for his short film Who's Afraid of the Water Sprite, which is inspired by Slovenian folklore and about a mythical eastern-European creature.

Emma Knights

A young movie director from Fakenham has been given a Royal Television Society award for one of his films.

Former Fakenham College student Will McGregor was given the RTS Southern Centre accolade for his short film Who's Afraid of the Water Sprite, which is inspired by Slovenian folklore and about a mythical eastern-European creature.

In the same week in February the movie also won a hat-trick of awards at the National Student Film Festival in Bristol, including best cinematography, best genre and technical achievement.

Twenty-two-year-old Mr McGregor, who shot the film in and around the village of Bosljjva Loka, near a river that separates Slovenia and Croatia, said: “Getting recognition for my work always comes as a surprise to me, but it is always welcome as it gives me so much extra faith in my abilities and encourages me to keep doing what I do.”

Mr McGregor, from East Rudham, is in his final year of a degree in digital film and screen arts at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) at Farnham.

His course leader Steve Littman said: “I'm really delighted for Will - he is a great ambassador for the course and truly deserves to pick up all of these awards.

“He has shown great ambition, technical ability and creative talent to produce a piece of work which the RTS panel said was the best student film they had ever seen.”

Mr McGregor has just returned from the Berlin Film Festival where his third short film Bovine was screened. The film, which was shot in Devon, illustrates the arduous life of a dairy farmer and his son who are forced to cull their cattle.

Five thousand aspiring film-makers applied to show their film in Germany as part of the Berlin Talent Campus, but Will was one of only 40 from the UK to show his work.

He said: “The feedback I received in Berlin, from the audience and organisers, was fantastic - it was amazing to feel a buzz around a festival about your film.

“As part of the Talent Campus scheme, I spent a week in workshops with the likes of British director Stephen Frears, who directed The Queen, and James Bond production designer Sir Ken Adam, which was amazing.”

Mr McGregor is currently working on a short film about a game keeper.