BIFA Nominations: "Saint Maud" leads the horror friendly pack
Thursday, December 10, 2020 at 12:34AM
NATHANIEL R in Ammonite, BIFA, Calm with Horses, His House, Horror, Luxor, Misbehaviour, Mogul Mowgli, Riz Ahmed, Rocks, Saint Maud, The Father

by Nathaniel R

The British Independent Film Awards have announced their nominations for the year. 27 films received at least one nomination but the bulk of the nominations went to Saint Maud (17), His House (16), and Rocks (15). UPDATE: Rocks and His House later emerged as the big winners. Higher profile Oscar hopefuls like The Father (6) and Ammonite (2) didn't do as well though The Father eventually won 3 of its 6 categories. Due to the category divisions BIFA has a lot of people that are double or triple nominated this year (they have the regular categories plus "debut" style categories). The BIFAs have a unique process in that the nominations are juried and then winners are decided in two separate ways. All BIFA vote by secret ballot to decide the winners of the nine craft categories plus Best Film, Best International Film, Discovery Award, and Short Film. But everything else is decided by discussion of individual juries separate from the juries who picked the nomination! Confusing right?! 

THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH THE WINNERS 02/19/21

British Independent Film

Best Actress

Andrea Riseborough in "Luxor"

Luxor, a romantic drama about a British aid worker and her former Egyptian lover just "opened" in the US (which means you can rent it online if theaters aren't open near you). We love ourselves some Riseborough but her films are always so low profile it can be easy to miss them!

 

Best Actor

Riz Ahmed in "Mogul Mowgli"

Because Riz Ahmed is an overachiever he doesn't just win raves playing a drummer in Sound of Metal but also wins raves playing a rapper. In both films sudden illness intervenes with his music plans (!!!). Unfortunately there's no US distributor for this one yet.

P.S. Did you see Cosmo Jarvis's two episode appearance in HBO's Raised by Wolves? Holy shit and also *drools* You might remember Jarvis from Lady Macbeth, Florence Pugh's breakout picture a few years back. 

Best Supporting Actress

Fiona Shaw with Tamara Lawrance in "Kindred"

Jennifer Ehle AND Fiona Shaw alert (!!!) and they're both in horror movies. Kindred, which is available to rent online, has a shockingly low rating on IMDb. Not that that means anything per se. (The rest of these films aren't available in the US yet)

Best Supporting Actor

Merab Ninidze with Benedict Cumberbatch in "The Courier"

We always forget that Harris Dickinson is British, he was so convincing as a Brooklynite in Beach Rats.

Most Promising Newcomer

Bukky and Kosar in "Rocks"

Best Director

Gavron has two previous features under her belt (Suffragette and Brick Lane) but the rest of the list is debuting directors all but one of whom are double-nominated since they're also up for "debut director". 

 

Best Screenplay

This list is almost entirely identical to their "debut screenwriter list" except The Father is missing in the other category (Christopher Hampton isn't exactly a newbie)

Douglas Hickox Award (Debut Director)

Remi Weekes has already signed with CAA after "His House" was a hit at Sundance

Florian Zeller (The Father) was also a debut and nominated in the Best Director category but not here. Different jury apparently!

Debut Screenwriter

Same as the Best Screenplay list except Calm with Horses replaces The Father. 

Best Cinematography

Best Costume Design

Ammonite

Best Editing

Best Makeup & Hair Design

Keira Knightley and Gugu Mbatha-Raw in "Misbehaviour" which has 3 craft nominations

Misbehaviour, about the Women's Liberation Movement interrupting a "Miss World" competition in 1970, is available to stream on Hoopla or rent from various services

Best Music

Best Production Design

Best Sound

Best Effects

Best Casting

 

Best Documentary

 

Best International Independent Film

Babyteeth

Best British Short 

The Raindance Discovery Award
This is a prize for low budget innovative compelling pictures. They can't have cost more than £500k

Looted and Perfect 10 both opened this past month in the UK so we probably won't get them for a bit. Rose is a horror movie. BIFA liked a lot of horror films this year!

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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