A FILM director has spoken of the “intense” journey he experienced while filming the European refugee crisis.

Orban Wallace co-founded his own film company, Gallivant Film, after finishing his studies at the University of Sussex in 2012.

The former Burgate School pupil who grew up in Damerham has directed various short films, music videos as well as short documentaries.

His debut documentary feature Another News Story is being screened at The Regal Cinema in Fordingbridge on Friday and Saturday.

It explores the European refugee crisis and turns the camera on the world’s 24-hour news gatherers as they pursuit the story.

“It varied at different points depending on the part of the journey. It started quite intensely being down on the beaches where all the boats were coming in,” said Orban.

“The whole thing was quite intense, you are just trying to keep up with the story because it was moving very fast and everybody was rushing to get through before the borders were shutting. You never knew what you were going to come across.

“We were very close with the refugees, we were crossing borders with them and witnessing first hand some of the scary stuff they were doing as well. We had a whole wave of emotions.”

On the final leg of the journey, Orban followed a female refugee and says he got to see what it was really like for them day-to-day. He was filming for about six weeks travelling to Lesbos in Greece through the Balkans, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary and Croatia, Austria before ending up in Germany.

“For me, we were very much learning on the job.” said Orban.

“The whole thing was an incredible experience, it was definitely traumatic and had an effect on the whole team. I’m glad I did it.”

Another News Story has been shortlisted for the 2018 Grierson Awards in the Best Single Documentary – International category as well as being screened at more than 20 international film festivals.

The screenings will be followed by a question and answer session with Orban.

Tickets: theregalcinema.org or Fordingbridge Bookshop