Six UK Films Take Ten Prizes At British Independent Film Awards

Six films co-funded by the National Lottery through the UK Film Council took home ten awards at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) on November 29 led by Shane Meadows’s 'This Is England' which was named Best British Independent Film.
Young actor Thomas Turgoose was also named Most Promising Newcomer for his performance in the film which was co-funded by the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund and regional screen agency EM Media.
Other Lottery funded films successes were:

• Andrea Arnold’s Red Road with Best Actor and Actress awards going to Tony Curran and Kate Dickie
• Paul Andrew Williams’s London to Brighton which won the Best Achievement in Production award
• Leslie Phillips was named Best Supporting Actor for his role in Roger Michell’s Venus
• Kevin Macdonald was named Best Director for The Last King of Scotland which also won the Best Technical Achievement award for cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle
• Menhaj Huda won the Douglas Hickox Best Debut Director award for Kidulthood; and
Cubs was named Best British Short

In addition, 'The Wind that Shakes the Barley' nominee Ken Loach was awarded the Special Jury Prize for all of his work; Peter Morgan won the Best Screenplay award for 'The Queen'; and 'The Road to Guantanamo' was named Best Documentary Film for Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross. Actor Jim Broadbent and actress Helen Mirren were given special honours with the Richard Harris award and the Variety UK Personality of the Year awards retrospectively. 'Hidden' (Caché) was named Best Foreign Language Film.
In its ninth year, the BIFAs are seen as one of the most important awards events in the British film industry and regarded as the kick-off to the awards season.
John Woodward, Chief Executive Officer of the UK Film Council, the major funding partner of the BIFAs was praiseworthy of UK talent: "This year's nominations and award winners really highlight the outstanding talent working in the UK with films made by both established and emerging filmmakers winning critical acclaim and attracting cinema-goers both in the UK and around the world. These awards act as a great champion for the British film industry celebrating excellence and originality in independent filmmaking."
(DS)