A University of Gloucestershire graduate has claimed a BAFTA for Best British Short Film.

Alex Lockwood studied film production in Cheltenham, and just a few years down the line has been rubbing shoulders with some of Hollywood’s finest.

“It was all a bit of a blur,” said Alex on receiving the award. “I’ve watched it back and in my head I was leaping for joy, but it looks like I was just trying to get it over and done with.

“I tried not to focus on who was in the crowd – people like Olivia Colman, Steve Coogan, Spike Lee – because I didn’t want to freak myself out.”

The event took place at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and other winners included Rami Malek, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.

Alex continued: “At the end they got all the winners up on stage for a photo and I was one of the first up along with Spike Lee.

“He congratulated me, and then Bradley Cooper came up and I said congrats to him – it was all very surreal!

“It was amazing, really extravagant and nice to be around people who I’ve looked up to for years.

“I think the after party went on until about three in the morning. No expense spared, it was all a bit of a whirlwind really.”

The film that won it for Alex and his team is called ‘73 Cows’ and tells the story of Derbyshire farmer Jay Wilde.

In 2017 Jay, a vegetarian for 25 years, gave the majority of his herd of cows to an animal sanctuary rather than continue to send them to the slaughterhouse.

Jay and his wife Katja are now focused on organic vegan farming, and Alex says the experience helped to convince him to go from vegetarianism to becoming a vegan, a viewpoint Alex knows can be very divisive.

He continued: “With veganism, people are either really on board, not sure, or absolutely hate it.
“I was amazed by how it was received, it can be a controversial topic and I’m surprised we didn’t get more negative press. I expected maybe a few thousand views but it really exploded online, it was a real shock.

“We filmed it over six or seven months last year, just the four of us. Me, Oliver Walton ( a fellow University of Gloucestershire graduate who accepted the BAFTA alongside Alex), John Roddy and Nishat Rahman, who’s also my wife.”

But the win may never have happened without a bit of convincing from long-time friend and cinematographer Oliver.

“I almost didn’t enter the film because I thought, “what’s the point?” But Ollie convinced me to,” explained Alex.

“Then we found out it had been longlisted – we didn’t really know what that meant – but then on 9th January we found out we’d been nominated which was amazing. I didn’t sleep much the night before then.”

Alex and Oliver were friends before both attending the University of Gloucestershire, and Alex says his time in Cheltenham helped him become the filmmaker he is today.

He said: “The best part was it was more of a practical course rather than just all theory.

“I learned about pitching ideas, working in a small team, script structure. I also learned about cutting out the rubbish – a lot of filmmakers are scared to cut their stuff.

“I remember making a really terrible film in university that I was ashamed of. Then in my third year I made on I was really proud of, so that taught me about turning something negative into a positive.”

In terms of the next project Alex has already finished another film based on a major issue faced by modern world.

He explained: “I’ve got another film coming out soon about a paddleboarder who’s fighting plastic pollution and has been raising awareness by paddling the Hudson River.

“Then there’s a few other projects following on from that could be an option, but I haven’t had chance to think that far ahead yet!”