Sunday, December 06, 2015

2015 British Independent Film Awards Winners


The awards ceremony is currently live streamed and you can watch it here! Winners are being updated as announced.

Have to admit that this year I'm very pleased with the results of 2015 BIFA as I was simply mesmerized with Ex Machina, the film that became the big winner of the evening as won the top award but also won Best Director, Best Screenplay and Outstanding Achievement in Craft.  Unfortunately there was no award for magnificent Alicia Vikander in Ex Machina but then she was NOT nominated (LOL).

Awards ceremony was entertaining and wonder if video was recorded; will check later if video works, but will be moved to end of post.

Winners are in *BLUE. To check winners at the official site go here.

Best British Independent Film
45 Years
Amy
*Ex Machina
The Lobster
Macbeth

Producer of the Year
45 Years
Amy
*Kajaki: The True Story
The Lobster
The Violators

Best International Independent Film
Carol, Todd Haynes
Force Majeure, Ruben Östlund
Girlhood, Céline Sciamma
*Room, Lenny Abrahamson
Son of Saul, László Nemes

Best Documentary
A Syrian Love Story, Sean McAllister
Amy, Asif Kapadia
*Dark Horse: The Incredible True Story of Dream Alliance, Louise Osmond
How to Change the World, Jerry Rothwell
Palio, Cosima Spender

The Discovery Award
Aaaaaaaah!, Steve Oram
Burn Burn Burn, Chanya Button
*Orion: The Man Who Would Be King, Jeanie Finlay
The Return, Oliver Nias
Winter, Heidi Greensmith

Best Director
Andrew Haigh for 45 Years
*Alex Garland for Ex Machina
Asif Kapadia for Amy
Justin Kurzel for Macbeth
Yorgos Lanthimos for The Lobster

The Douglas Hickox Award for Debut Director
Chris Blaine and Ben Blaine for Nina Forever
*Stephen Fingleton for The Survivalist
Corin Hardy for The Hallow
Paul Katis for Kajaki: The True Story
John Maclean for Slow West

Best Screenplay
*Alex Garland for Ex Machina
Andrew Haigh for 45 Years
Nick Hornby for Brooklyn
Amy Jump for High-Rise
Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou for The Lobster

Best Actress
Marion Cotillard in Macbeth
Carey Mulligan in Suffragette
Charlotte Rampling in 45 Years
*Saorise Ronan in Brooklyn
Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl

Best Supporting Actress
Helena Bonham Carter in Suffragette
*Olivia Colman in The Lobster
Anne Marie Duff in Suffragette
Sienna Miller in High-Rise
Julie Walters in Brooklyn

Best Actor
Tom Courtney in 45 Years
Michael Fassbender in Macbeth
Colin Farrell in The Lobster
*Tom Hardy in Legend
Tom Hiddleston in High-Rise

Best Supporting Actor
Luke Evans in High-Rise
*Brendan Gleeson in Suffragette
Domhnall Gleeson in Brooklyn
Sean Harris in Macbeth
Ben Whishaw in The Lobster

Most Promising Newcomer
Agyness Deyn in Sunset Song
Mia Goth in The Survivalist
*Abigail Hardingham in Nina Forever
Milo Parker in Mr Holmes
Bel Powley in A Royal Night Out

Outstanding Achievement in Craft
Casting - Fiona Weir for Brooklyn
Cinematography - Adam Arkapaw for Macbeth
Editing - Chris King for Amy
Production Design - Mark Digby for Ex Machina
*VFX - Andrew Whitehurst for Ex Machina

Best British Short
Balcony, Toby Fell-Holden
Crack, Peter King
*Edmond, Nina Gantz
Love is Blind, Dan Hodgson
MANoMAN, Simon Cartwright

As we know Kate Winslet got the The Variety Award and Chiwetel Ejiofor The Richard Harris Award. The Special Jury Prize went to Chris Collins.

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11/3/15
Today Gemma Chan and Thomas Brodie-Sangster announced the nominations for this year's edition of the BIFA's and there are a total of twenty-eight (28) different British feature films nominated. Laurence Green, chairman of the BIFA Board, said, “BIFA’s committed voters watched over 260 films this year – more than ever. After thousands of hours of viewing, nearly 30 jury meetings and two rounds of voting, their nominations cover a breathtaking range of British films and filmmaking talent. With the support of the BFI, BIFA is delighted to be making it possible for the public to see these films before the winners are announced, bringing them to cinemas right across the UK and so giving audiences the chance to discover the very best of British film for themselves.”

The Lobster leads with 7 nominations closely followed by 45 Years and Macbeth with 6 nominations each; with 5 each Amy, Brooklyn and Ex Machina, and with 4 each High-Rise and Suffragette. There are five first-time performance nominees this year (Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay, Tom Hiddleston, Marion Cotillard and Luke Evans) and nine past winners: Tom Hardy, Brendan Gleeson Anne-Marie Duff, Olivia Colman, Michael Fassbender, Helena Bonham Carter, Julie Walters and Ben Whishaw, who was BIFA’s Most Promising Newcomer in 2001.

Have no doubt when I say that this year is a great year for Cinema as we are starting to see with the first nominations in the 2015-2016 Awards season some truly outstanding films; but for British Cinema 2015 was out-of-the-ordinary and the following nominations tell that most of the greatest British films come from the Independent side of the industry. Just take a look at the great films that are honored with a BIFA nomination and perhaps you'll agree.  Then the Best Actress category is an example of great young and not so-young contemporary actresses; some of you can imagine how glad I'm to see BIFA honoring Marion Cotillard, Alicia Vikander, Carey Mulligan, Charlotte Rampling and Saorise Ronan as the first three are some of my very favorite actresses.

The most noticeable snub is The Danish Girl in all categories except  Best Actress where Alicia Vikander has the only nomination for the film. I just hope Oscars notices that Vikander has a Lead and not a Supporting role in film, but I know that Oscars Best Actress category is crowded this year, sigh.

As previously announced, the Variety Award, which recognizes a director, actor, writer or producer who has made a global impact and helped to focus the international spotlight on the UK, will be presented to Kate Winslet. To read about each film go here and use the Learn More link in each category.

The winners will be announced at The Moët British Independent Film Awards on Sunday 6 December at Old Billingsgate. The event will be live streamed on www.bifa.film.

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