BIFA crowns Renée and "For Sama" makes history!
Monday, December 2, 2019 at 7:44AM by Cláudio Alves
Renée's coming for that Oscar.The nitty-gritty of awards season is upon us. The same names and films are bound to be repeated over and over again until the high holy night of the Oscars. Thankfully, not all awards organizations follow the party line when it comes to rewarding cinematic excellence. In other words, not everyone wants to predict the Oscars. Some still have originality, a sense of variety and the desire to shine a light on films far from the Academy’s radar. Such is the case of the British Independent Film Awards, which were given out today in London.
However, as you can see by this piece's title, it’s not all out of left-field choices. Renée Zellweger just won her first big award for Judy and many more are sure to come. Even so, the biggest winner of the night is the sort of film that (as much as it saddens us) will probably never come close to a Best Picture Oscar. We’re talking about a foreign-language documentary directed by a woman…
The night ended with an upset, For Sama conquering both Best Director and Best Film. It's actually the first documentary to win the latter, making this victory into an historic moment. Oscar wise, For Sama's biggest hopes center on the Best Documentary Feature race.
Ruthxjiah Bellenea gave the best speech of the night.
Best Actor Josh O’Connor, Only You
Best Actress Renée Zellweger, Judy
Best Supporting Actor Hugh Laurie, The Personal History Of David Copperfield
Best Supporting Actress Ruthxjiah Bellenea, The Last Tree
This is Josh O'Connors second win in BIFA's Best Actor category. Back in 2017, he won for his wonderful performance in God's Own Country, which also took home the Best Film trophy.
Best Casting Sarah Crowe, The Personal History of David Copperfield
Best Screenplay Armando Iannucci and Simon Blackwell, The Personal History Of David Copperfield
Most Promising Newcomer Sam Adewumni, The Last Tree
Discovery Award Zara Balfour, Marcus Stephenson and Mark Hakansson, Children of the Snow Land
Best Debut Director Harry Wootliff, Only You
Best Debut Screenwriter Emma Jane Unsworth, Animals
Breakthrough Producer Kate Byers and Linn Waite, Bait
Best British Short Anna, Dekel Berenson, Merlin Merton and Olga Beskhmelnitsyna
Best International Film Parasite – South Korea
Apart from Judy and For Sama's potential bid at the Best Documentary Feature Oscar, Parasite is the likeliest title to be repeated throughout the rest of this particular Awards Season.
Best Editing Chloe Lambourne and Simon MacMahon, For Sama
Best Cinematography Benjamin Kracun, Beats
Best Production Design Cristina Casali, The Personal History of David Copperfield
Best Costume Design Suzie Harman and Robert Worley, The Personal History of David Copperfield
Best Makeup and Hair Design Jeremy Woodhead, Judy
Best Music Jack Arnold, Wild Rose
Best Sound David Bowtle-McMillan, Joakin Sundström and Robert Farr, Beats
Best Effects Howard Jones, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
The Richard Harris Award (Lifetime Achievement) Kristin Scott Thomas
The Variety Award Chiwetel Ejiofor
Special Jury Prize Amanda Nevill
Despite the dominance of For Sama and The Personal History of David Copperfield, the BIFA spread the wealth this year. Many films won awards, including such little gems as Beats and Bait. Hopefully, this sort of generosity will prevail during the next few months of awards shenanigans.
Reader Comments (41)
and so, the Renee sweep begins...
Love the song win for "Wild Rose." Hope an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song is next!
The 'David Copperfield' wins are also great. Releasing it in early 2020 rather than Holiday Season 2019 may end up being a very smart decision for its Oscar changes...
\o/ Go Renée Go \o/
Happy for Renee but can someone explain me how she can be nominated at both BIFA and Spirit Awards? Shoudn't it be one or the other?
Was Renee there?
At the beginning of the season, I didn't think she had a shot at the Oscar because she seemed like such an unlikely two-time winner, but I do think it increasingly looks like she will win. Scarlett and Saoirse are overshadowed by others in their films, and I don't think voters will want to award Megyn Kelly over Judy Garland. She would be a good winner, too.
Very cool that BIFA was willing to give its top award to a documentary. I have to watch For Sama soon.
I agree on the Judy vs. Megyn thing. People kind of thought Bale could win for Vice (bouts of Malek skepticism) and it never happened, no matter how much they like him or how much he disappeared into the role. Whatever you think of Vice, that was a great performance. I don't think it was the right time or the right role, which I assume is going to be Charlize's deal as well.
It's also ironic that Charlize seems less "ripe" for a second win since she's already won in Best Actress, lol. The same night that Renee won in supporting! There's a bit of "The leading lady from Bridget Jones and Best Picture Winner Chicago is competing for her FIRST Best Actress Oscar!"
I think Renee is worthy on the merits of the performance so the narrative isn't that important to me. I am glad to see the narrative holding strong, though!
This curious thing it happen to me: When I'm starting to pay attention to an actor i hope that person could win an Oscar but isn´t nominated or lose, then i start to put my attention away from the Oscars and suddenly that actor is an Oscar winner.
It happened with Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman, and Sam Rockwell. When Renee Zellweger win her Oscar i wasn´t satisified considering her work in Cold Mountain and i remember that i tought: i want some day she could win as lead.
Now that she is getting to close to be a double Oscar winner i´m not sure to feel so happy about her because even when i think she is talented, two Oscars feels TOO much not just for her, in general i think that multiple nominations and wins for an actor is excesive and left away some other talents. And if we are considering that the Academy is more open to recognize foreign language film performances that will help most people could (at least one time) be an Oscar nominated actor.
Having said that, even if a second win for Renée would make me happy, i really hope someone new could take her place as winner. Another choice is that she tribute her Oscar to someone else a la Ving Rhames.
Renee loses SAG and Bafta. Ronan or Johansson win. Woodard is the dream, but critics and bloggers will saddle her with only nominations. What privilege. Supporting is the race to pay close attention to this year.
Renee wasn't facing any of her Oscar competition, but this is a good sign considering how non predictive this group was, and still she was victorious. Not sold on her completely, still a fun open race! Steenburgen just might have an acting and songwriting Oscar, like Babs.
Too early to count Ronan or Johansson out.
I know that technically speaking I'm wrong about it but by now I consider BIFA more representative of british movie year than Bafta
Scarlett isn't winning an Oscar for a part where she essentially seems underutilized next to Driver, especially when Renee is in every scene of her movie.
Renee Zzzzzz. i still dont get it. She's pretty good in the film but for me it'll be a sweep like the Helen Mirren thing. Decent performance but doe she really need what will probably be 20 wins for it when there are so many other great actors out there doing great work in the same year.
Renee is very good tho her performance is chock full of mannerisms. Appropriate for the role but I'd like to give it a second viewing. I saw Hustlers earlier that day and I was comparing whose was the better performance. Lopez is a lead for me, but maybe a second viewing will change my mind. Neither film is great, but Hustlers is often bothersome and far from great. The Julia Stiles character is such a tool of a character and she's not good in it.
Oh yeah, Renee and Judy. I feel Scarlett could make a run at it, and maybr Saoirse if the film hits. For now I don't see Zellweger or Theron.
Nathaniel you've been around too long to be this jaded. I don't always overindulge in many pundit outlets, so from my perspective quite often the ones I hear are leading early, ie Zellweger, fade a more and more awards flood in. To quote Shania Twain "Don't Be Stupid, you know I (we) love you"
Gutted for Jessie Buckley, that should have been her award.
Josh O'Connor has been great in The Crown, and he looks delightful in the new, upcoming Emma. He's really showing off his versatility.
Of course you don't get it, Nat because you dislike her. Period. ;)
@JF, re: "The leading lady from Bridget Jones and Best Picture Winner Chicago is competing for her FIRST Best Actress Oscar!" Uh, Zellweger in fact was nominated for both Bridget Jones' Diary and Chicago, so she has competed for Best Actress twice already (and damn near won for Chicago, let's not forget).
Personally, I'm still sort of stunned by the Renéessaince, which I figured would've taken off in 2016 (around the release of Bridget Jones' Baby) but...didn't. That she's back in such a significant, formidable way is surprising, although I do hope it leads to great opportunities for her to work with talented filmmakers in meaty roles moving forward.
The recent EW story, , pretty much sums up why Zellweger appears to be unstoppable at this point: old (and new?) Hollywood, namely Academy members, seem to think that hers is an undeniable perf—and a way to honor Judy Garland finally/ultimately.
This Judy storyline is such a checkmate. Renee is guaranteed to spend the season near the top of the Best Actress race, whatever happens. And unlike most heated contests it doesn’t really matter if she wins or loses, except to the people who don’t wish her well, lol.
She has everything to gain and nothing to lose. And if she loses, she still wins. And it's very possible that she won't lose!
And Mareko, Renee is competing for *her* first Best Actress Oscar, unless she has a Best Actress Oscar I don't know about. I'm aware of her Oscar record, as I'm sure most people who read this blog are.
I do hope this is the start of KST'S awards run for next year's Rebecca.
Renee is not going to win all of the critics' awards for the performance. The most prestigious critics' groups will probably want to honor some of the less heralded performances this year. (Though she did just win Atlanta.)
If there's a sweep this year, it's likelier to be Driver.
I'm totally into Brits but this award has no importance in the race.
Benny -- i'm not sure what you mean by me being jaded because i think Zellweger is likely to be a Mirren style sweep. It is factual what happened with Mirren. And nowadways it's really hard to find people who can fully fathom why that performance was so undeniable. My suspicion is that the same thing will occur this year. Just curious why you think that's a "jaded" thing to say.
LOL @ Nathaniel already complaining for a Renee sweep when this is not even an American critics group. I'm optimistic for a dark horse but it'd be ok for me if Renee wins more than she should, hoping it opens her doors for new and more interest projects.
I have no strong feelings about the Best Actress award this year so I'm cool with Zellweger winning. So far, anyway. There's several things I haven't seen yet. But she was more than fine as Judy Garland, she pulled off a very difficult role.
It seems a little cynical because "Mirren-style sweeps" don't happen much, if ever. And there are plenty of critical darlings in the race this year who I'm sure many critics groups will remember. The question is more, which one?
But if you say "Renee Zellweger *will* leap over the Empire State Building in a single bound," you can say "her campaign is losing steam" when she only clears the 97th story.
Remember how Nathaniel was adamant to accept Renee as frontrunner? And here we are, LOL. A new member of the blacklist?
I sort of understand were the "jaded" sentiment comes from,a sweep is boring people,when something is inevitable this early we know we'll all have to sit through speeches and shows were the winner is already ordained.
A sweep may occur for Renee though they are getting rare and many feel whilst she is good the performance isn't or doesn't deserve to be a sweeper.
I also feel with Renee's potential win that Judy never won an Oscar competitively so it's like honouring her and Renee.
I cannot imagine a scenario where Renee doesn't win the Oscar this year. I think she's the biggest lock in any of the acting categories.
None of the other ladies have the roles or performances to win. Charlize is not going to win for playing Megyn Kelly - I also worry about that film's potential box office and audience reception. I could even see a scenario where she is snubbed entirely.
it's Renee's to lose this year.
So hapi for Renee!! No matter wat the detractors say, she totally deserves it!! Both for her comeback narrative, her super brave choice to tackle one o the biggest icon in Hollywood, n elevates a so-so movie by her nauced n touching performance!!
IMO, a win for Renee is oso a win for Judy. The Academy is gonna seize the chance to right one o their major wrongs in history n it will be too tempting for them to pass up this chance!!
Imagine the backlash IF Judy Garland loses again!! 😂
Can someone explain where the notion of honoring one performer by giving a different performer an Oscar came from? The person it’s theoretically honoring will still have 0 Academy Awards to their name, so why does this sentiment appear so frequently?
Renee Zellweger joins a unique group of previous supporting actress winners who got the best actress upgrade on their second win: Meryl Streep, Jessica Lange, and Cate Blanchett. Don't assume Zellweger's coronation gives hope to other supporting actress winners -- they're not big on upgrading women.
"Ruthxjiah Bellenea gave the best speech of the night."
i can't find it online so more info, please
MJ -- this. So many of the grossest Oscar wins and campaigns have used this tactic. Remember The Imitation Game's "honor the film. honor the man" (barf) and so many people feeling like they were giving Freddie Mercury an Oscar last year. It's like acting doesn't matter at all to people, only the roles.
It always has and always will bug me. It's one of the reasons why mimicry and biopics are so relentlessly successful each year with awards bodies.
and also, as a total Judy Garland nut, I resent this "it's like giving Judy an Oscar thing" thing. NO. Judy doesn't get a retroactive Oscar, unfortunately.
Yet, Renee is still oscar worthy
I'm delighted by the Josh O'Connor win, for one of the year's best and most unheralded performances. His co-star Laia Costa is similarly fantastic, so it's nice to see an awards body recognise Only You.
"It's like acting doesn't matter at all to people, only the roles."
You're being dramatic. Acting doesn't matter at *all* to people? If that were true Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts would have matching Oscars for Grace of Monaco and Diana. Biopic performances are hit-or-miss like any other genre: The bias in favor of them is a bit lazy but you're writing off an entire category of performances, of which some are the greatest ever.
Do you think the media (beginning with you) would have been the least bit charitable to Renee Zellweger if Judy had been a disaster? It would have been a new data point in the "Has-been Renee Zellweger (who I always hated) is circling the drain, sad!" narrative. I guess the rest of the world wasn't jonesing for that.
I share the sentiment of Nathaniel about the fact that biopics automatically catch the attention of awards, specially with the fact that apparently a biopic "should" be a way to "honor" the person involve, wich means: drama.
I'm a huge huge fan of comedy and the work of actors in it but the academy doesn´t know to recognize the diferent style of acting on genre performances in general.
I haven´t seen JoJo Rabbit (and i can´t wait) but judging by the trailer Taika Waitit´s performance as Adolf Hitler is a cartoonized version of Hitler which is "valid" considering that is not likeable as a character but even with that is hard to imagine him nominated because his work is not "serious" enough.
Taking JF's example, I really believe that Naomi Watts would have been terrific in Diana if the tone of the movie was a dark comedy, but I don't think the public is prepared to see her "idols" being "ridiculed" that way.
I just saw Alfre Woodard in Clemency, and I'd like to see any of the ladies in the Best Actress discussion pull off that million-minute close-up at the end. Wow.