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.