Riz Ahmed joins us at LSA for a Masterclass Special

In celebration of Universal Pictures' fresh and fierce reimagining of Hamlet, young people at the London Screen Academy (LSA) took to the stage to interview the film's producer and star, Riz Ahmed. The inspiring and insightful discussion was exclusively filmed by Into Film and is available to watch in full below.

The event was the latest in an ongoing series of industry masterclasses embedded into the curriculum at the Islington film and TV sixth form, a long-standing partner and friend of Into Film. LSA's masterclasses provide students with opportunities to learn from leading creative professionals, and to develop their own skills through hands-on hosting experience.

LSA student Enis and alumna Raksha expertly facilitated a Q&A with Riz, focusing on the theme of crafting connections, and how this is vital to successful screen careers. Riz reflected on various collaborations from across his career, discussing projects including Four Lions, Nightcrawler, Sound of Metal, Mogul Mowgli, and of course, Hamlet, which is in cinemas now.

Offering advice on the importance of finding collaborators whose values you can trust, Riz discussed shooting short film The Long Goodbye with Hamlet director Aneil Karia. "He has a way of making poetry or rap or spoken word feel very raw", remembered Riz, explaining how he knew Aneil was the perfect director to bring to life his vision of an immersive South Asian reinterpretation of Hamlet. "I wouldn't have been able to make this unless I had a collaborator like Aneil."

Riz also explained how an earlier moment of connection - with a school teacher who recommended he read Hamlet - kickstarted his identification with the story when he was the same age as LSA's students. Speaking about feeling like an outsider and the powerful poetry he found in Shakespeare's text, Riz said: "I was not expecting to find exactly how I was feeling in a play written 430 years ago. I did not expect to find something that resonated so much with my love of rap music … and I was not expecting to see so many similarities between this story and my own lived experience as a British Asian."

Riz wanted to make a film that would change how people see Hamlet, and allow more people to feel like Shakespeare belongs to them. He was driven by thinking, 'what does the 18-year-old version of me wish existed?'.

"They say you shouldn't meet your idols, but meeting Riz was a literal dream come true", said Raksha, after co-hosting the masterclass. "He was so kind, down-to-earth and genuinely so inspiring. He's one of the first main positive artists representing our community, and I have looked up to him for years as one of my biggest South Asian icons in the industry. The power in his work was reflected in his words that day. His words in the masterclass moved me and made me feel so seen because they resonated so much. He was so attentive and taught us all so much through his honesty, life experiences and passion. I couldn't be more grateful and honoured for the opportunity to co-host this!"

"My experience with meeting and speaking with Riz Ahmed was one of a kind - an opportunity like no other", said Co-host and LSA student Enis. "Coming from a Muslim background, Riz Ahmed's tone and general attitude throughout the masterclass process was very genuine and personal, giving out advice that wasn't broad nor plain but heartfelt and thoughtful. I feel as though myself, co-host Raksha, and the audience felt really connected and inspired by his words. Truly inspiring and passionate about his work."

Download our Hamlet: Shakespeare for All resource

In addition to viewing the Masterclass Special, you can download our Hamlet: Shakespeare for All resource, designed for use with students aged 15+, to further support curriculum objectives from film studies, careers, and English literature.

Using the film's trailer and an exclusive clip, students will develop their comparative analysis skills and consider cultural representation. Hamlet: Shakespeare for All engages with the film's screenplay and Shakespeare's text itself, supporting media literacy and complementing the aims of the National Literacy Trust's UK-wide campaign the National Year of Reading 2026.

Riz's career journey is a testament to the unique ways young people discover reading - particularly if, like him, they struggle with "sitting down to read long chunks of text". During the Masterclass, students heard how connections between different forms of spoken, performed and written storytelling, including cinema, rap music, poetry and Urdu oral traditions, have informed Riz's creative development. Like film, storytelling in performance can translate into a love of reading on the page.

Speaking with Enis and Raksha, Riz celebrated film's power as a connecter between people, describing it as a remarkable 'body-swap technology' that helps audiences develop empathy and stay in touch with what we have in common as humans.

Responding to students' requests for advice on building screen careers, Riz was realistic about some of the challenges of working in the creative industries: "The wrong word from the wrong person can just land in your heart and it just wrecks your confidence".

Thankfully, Riz flew in the face of this himself, offering plenty of the right words to the appreciative and enthusiastic LSA audience. Watch the full Masterclass below to access his encouraging insights into navigating collaboration, representation and staying true to yourself.

Masterclass Special with Riz Ahmed

You can also use our Shakespeare on Screen Film List to stream a variety of previous Shakespeare adaptations, further illuminating Shakespeare's works, themes and legacy in fresh and accessible ways for young people. All titles featured on the list are available to stream with Into Film+.