Tuesday, March 05, 2019

2018 British Independent Film Awards Winners


Updating blog.

The Favourite by Yorgos Lanthimos was the big winner of the night with a record 10 wins, including best film, best director, best actress and supporting actress, best screenplay and more; Roma wins best international film.

The Richard Harris Award for Outstanding Contribution by an Actor to British Film went to none other than Judi Dench, The Variety Award to Felicity Jones, and the Special Jury Prize to Horace Ove.

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

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10/31/18
The Favourite leads with 13 nominations for the 2018 British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) announced this morning by British actors Ellie Bamber and Arinzé Kene at the Everyman Cinema, King’s Cross. Yorgos Lanthimos’s black comedy about the 18th century court of Queen Anne is recognized for Best British Independent Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Olivia Colman is nominated for Best Actress, with her co-stars in the female-led ensemble, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz, competing in the Best Supporting Actress category, Weisz also receives a Best Actress nomination for Disobedience. The Favourite also sweeps the technical categories, newly introduced for the 2017 awards, with nominations for seven of the nine awards, including Best Production Design, Best Cinematography supported by Blackmagic Design, Best Make-up & Hair Design and Best Costume Design.

The Best British Independent Film nominees are American Animals (11 nominations), Beast (10 nominations), Disobedience (5 nominations), The Favourite (13 nominations) and You Were Never Really Here (8 nominations).

The nominations list demonstrates a record year for female representation, with over 40% of the individual nominations recognising women in the industry across directing, writing, producing, performance and craft. Female nominees make up over 50% of the talent nominated for Best British Independent Film and dominate both Most Promising Newcomer and Breakthrough Producer supported by Creativity Media, with four out of five nominations for each award. Over 140 British films were submitted for consideration and 37 different British feature films have been nominated across the BIFA categories.

The broad recognition for American Animals and You Were Never Really Here marks the return of previous award winners, writer-directors Lynne Ramsay and Bart Layton. Layton won Best Debut Director for his documentary The Imposter in 2012 and his true-crime heist drama American Animals secures him nominations for Best Director and for both Best Screenplay and Debut Screenwriter. The film sees Evan Peters and Barry Keoghan compete in the Best Supporting Actor category, marking their first BIFA nominations. Ramsay continues her long association with BIFA, with her third nomination for Best Screenplay and her second for Best Director, following past recognition for Ratcatcher, Morvern Callar and We Need To Talk About Kevin. Joaquin Phoenix secures his second BIFA Best Actor nomination for his role as a tortured hitman in the psychological noir thriller, with Jonny Greenwood and Tom Townend being recognised for Best Music and Best Cinematography respectively.

Following a breakout year for British directorial debuts at the 2017 awards, this year’s nominations list continues the trend with acclaim for Michael Pearce’s romantic thriller Beast and Daniel Kokotajlo’s Apostasy, a sensitive drama set within the Jehovah’s Witness community. In addition to its Best British Independent Film nomination, Beast receives nods for Pearce in all directing and screenwriting categories: Best Director, Best Screenplay, Debut Screenwriter and The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director. Lead Jessie Buckley receives nominations for both Best Actress and Most Promising Newcomer, alongside Apostasy’s Molly Wright who also receives nods in both categories. Kokotajlo features alongside Pearce with nominations for Best Debut Director and Debut Screenwriter.

Joe Cole (A Prayer Before Dawn), Rupert Everett (The Happy Prince) and Charlie Plummer (Lean on Pete) all feature in the Best Actor category as first time BIFA nominees, alongside Steve Coogan (Stan & Ollie) and Joaquin Phoenix. Gemma Arterton (The Escape) and Maxine Peake (Funny Cow) round out the Best Actress category with Peake making her debut on the list.

The Richard Harris Award and The Variety Award are to be announced in November. The Richard Harris Award, introduced in 2002 in honor of Richard Harris, recognizes outstanding contribution to British Film by an actor. Previous winners have been Daniel Day Lewis, Julie Walters, John Hurt, Emma Thompson and Vanessa Redgrave in 2017. The Variety Award recognizes a director, actor, writer or producer who has made a global impact and helped focus the international spotlight on the UK.

Suggest to take special notice to the Best International Independent film category as could look similar to most likely Oscars nominations in the Best Foreign-Language category, as all -except one- are country submissions and have high possibilities to be in the shortlist of 9, to be the 5 nominees and even, win the Oscar.   Even when there is no relation between BIFA voters and Academy members I'm really curious to find out the film that will win this category in the UK awards circuit.

Will not deny that had huge expectations for Colette and the no nominations in the main categories produces concern; let's hope film delivers as believe is a great story that should be well-told.

These are the nominations.

Best British Independent Film
American Animals
Beast
Disobedience
*The Favourite
You Were Never Really Here

Best Director
Bart Layton for American Animals
Michael Pearce for Beast
*Yorgos Lanthimos for The Favourite
Andrew Haigh for Lean on Pete
Lynne Ramsay for You Were Never Really Here

The Douglas Hickox Award for Debut Director 
Daniel Kokotajlo for Apostasy
Michael Pearce for Beast
Matt Palmer for Calibre
Leanne Welham for Pili
*Richard Billingham for Ray & Liz

Best Screenplay
Bert Layton for American Animals
Michael Pearce for Beast
Sebastian Lelio and Rebecca Lenkiewicz for Disobedience
*Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara for The Favourite
Lynne Ramsay for You Were Never Really Here

Debut Screenwriter
*Bart Layton for American Animals
Daniel Kokotajlo for Apostasy
Michael Pearce for Beast
Matt Palmer for Calibre
Karen Gillian for The Party's Just Beginning

Best Actress
Jessie Buckley in Beast
Rachel Weisz in Disobedience
Gemma Arterton in The Escape
*Olivia Colman in The Favourite
Maxine Peake in Funny Cow

Best Supporting Actress
Molly Wright in Apostasy
Rachel McAdams in Disobedience
Emma Stone in The Favourite
*Rachel Weisz in The Favourite
Nina Arianda in Stan & Olie

Best Actor
Rupert Everett in The Happy Prince
Charlie Plummer in Lean on Pete
*Joe Cole in A Prayer Before Dawn
Steve Coogan in Stan & Olie
Joaquin Phoenix in You Were Never Really Here

Best Supporting Actor
Evan Peters in American Animals
Barry Keoghan in American Animals
*Alessandro Nivola in Disobecience
Steve Buscemi in Lean on Pete

Most Promising Newcomer
Molly Wright in Apostasy
*Jessie Buckley in Beast
Michaela Coel in Been So Long
Liv Hill in Jelly Fish
Marcus Rutherford in Obey

Best International Independent Film
Capernaum, Nadine Labaki
Cold War, Pawel Pawlikowski
The Rider, Chloe Zhao
*Roma, Alfonso Cuaron
Shoplifters, Hirokazu Koreeda

Best Documentary
Being Frank: The Chris Sievey Story, Steve Sullivan
*Evelyn, Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara
Island, Steven Eastwood and Elhum Shakerifar
Nae Pasaran, Felipe Bustos Sierra
Under the Wire, Chris Martin and Tom Brisley

Best British Short
*The Big Day, Dawn Shadforth
Bitter Sea, Fateme Ahmadi
The Field, Sandhya Suri
Pommel, Paris Zarcilla
To Know Him, Kellie Smith

The Discovery Award
Andy Tohill and Ryan Tohill for The Dig
Iain Cunningham, Rebecca Mark-Lawson, David Arthur, and Ellie Land for Irene's Ghost
Mikko Makela and James Watson for A Moment in the Reeds
Douglas King and Josie Long for Super November
*May Miles Thomas for Voyageuse

Breakthrough Producer
Marcie Maclellan for Apostasy
Kristian Brodie, Lauren Dark and Ivana Mackinnon for Beast
Anna Griffin for Calibre
*Jaqui Davies for Ray & Liz
Faye Ward for Stan & Ollie

Best Casting
Avy Kaufman for American Animals
Michelle Smith for Apostasy
Julie Harkin for Beast
*Dixie Chassay for The Favourite
Andy Pryor for Stan & Ollie

Best Cinematograhy
Ole Bratt Birkeland for American Animals
*Robbie Ryan for The Favourite
Magnus Nordenhof Jonck for Lean on Pete
David Ungaro for A Prayer Before Dawn
Tom Twonend for You Were Never Really Here

Best Costume Design
Andrea Flesch for Colette
Alyssa Tull for Andrea Flesch
*Sandy Powell for The Favourite
Jaqueline Durran for Peterloo
Guy Speranza for Stan & Ollie

Best Editing
*Nick Fenton, Julian Hart and Chris Gill for American Animals
Yorgos Mavropsaridis for The Favourite
Ben Wheatley for Happy New Year, Colin Burstead
Marc Boucrot for A Prayer Before Dawn
Joe Bini for You Were Never Really Here

Best Make-up & Hair Design
Ivana Primorac for Colette
*Nadia Stacey for The Favourite
Christine Blundell for Peterloo
Stacey Louise Holman for A Prayer Before Dawn
Mark Coulier and Jeremy Woodhead for Stan & Ollie

Best Music
Anne Nikitin for American Animals
Jim Williams for Beast
Richard Hawley for Funny Cow
Aaron Cupples for Island of the Hungry Ghosts
*Jonny Greenwood forYou Were Never Really Here

Best Production Design
Michael Carlin for Colette
*Fiona Crombie for The Favourite
Suzie Davies for Peterloo
Beck Rainford for Ray & Liz
John Paul Kelly for Stan & Ollie

Best Sound
Andrew Stirk for American Animals
Johnnie Burn for The Favourite
Severin Favriau for A Prayer Before Dawn
CJ Mirra for Time Trial
*Paul Davies for You Were Never Really Here

Best Effects 
Matthew Strange and Mark Wellband for Dead in A Week (Or Your Money Back)
*Howard Jones for Early Man
George Zwier and Paul Driver for Peterloo

Winners will be announced at the British Independent Film Award Ceremony on Sunday 2 December at Old Billingsgate.

Check some awards ceremony highlights.







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