A passionate film buff from Musselburgh-based Queen Margaret University is enjoying a taste of life on the red carpet along with his studies.

During his four year BA (Hons) in Theatre and Film, German born David Bakum is getting the chance to attend a host of film festivals at home and abroad, including Venice, Berlin and Iceland, in a bid to hone his industry experience.

In his final year he found himself representing his home country of Germany at the 2022 Venice Film Festival after being encouraged to attend more local film festivals by his university lecturers.

Just before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019 he volunteered at his first film festival - the Edinburgh Short Film Festival - and he went on to be snapped up as a volunteer worker at the German film festival, Berlinale, in 2022.

David was then encouraged by his lecturers to attend the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival in Bo’ness, which involved volunteering in Scotland's oldest cinema.

He went on to attend 27 Times Cinema which brings 27 film lovers, one from each EU member state, together at the Venice Film Festival. Participants are also invited to critique the applicants for the Venice Days film awards.

David said: "I sent my application away and I had no idea if it was going to work out. Eventually I got the response that I was going to be in the jury - it was so exciting! It was an amazing experience: I am now the ambassador for the Lux film award for the European Parliament for one year. I do social media posts for them to promote it and attend events.

"Through this experience, I got to meet Céline Sciamma - writer and director of 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire.' It was just crazy to me when I found out she was going to be the president of our jury because she is a real hero - I'm actually writing my dissertation on her work."

He also got to stand on the red carpet and interview nominees at the European Film Awards in Iceland in December.

David said: "The lecturers encourage and support students to do things that will enhance their studies. There’s always enough space to let us explore things related to our degree, as well as an element of flexibility as to how we get course work done.

“The staff at QMU have been so important in making this experience special - my programme leader in particular. I don’t think my course would have been the same if they weren’t so willing to provide me with such excellent support."