Award winners announced at 2024 BFI London Film Festival

The BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express today announces the winners of this year’s LFF Awards. The competition sections are a celebration of the most exciting, innovative new films and cinematic storytelling; creative, beautiful and often provocative, the films showcase an incredible range of talent from across the world. 

The winning films, which were chosen by four esteemed LFF juries, explore a fascinating breadth of themes and stories, including an animation stop-motion triumph, a masterful depiction of an immigrant woman’s alienation, an exquisite and powerful documentary on the personal growth and resilience of an Orthodox nun and an urgent and reflective documentary on the experience of growing up deaf in Gaza. The winner of the Best Film award will screen again this evening to close the festival, while the winning short film is available to watch for free until the end of the festival on BFI Player.  

The popular Audience Awards also return for 2024, with audiences being able to vote for their favourite work at this year’s festival, be it fiction, documentary, short or immersive work. Three awards for Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary Feature and Best Short Film will be awarded; voting is open now and closes at 23:59 on Wednesday 23 October. The winners of the Audiences Awards will be announced at the end of October. 

The winners of this year’s films screening In Competition are: 

• Winner of the Best Film Award in Official Competition – Memoir of a Snail (Dir. Adam Elliot) 
• Winner of the Sutherland Award in the First Feature Competition – On Falling (Dir. Laura Carreira)  
• Winner of the Grierson Award in the Documentary Competition – Mother Vera (Dirs. Cécile Embleton, Alys Tomlinson)  
• Winner of the Short Film Award in the Short Film Competition – Vibrations from Gaza (Dir. Rehab Nazzal) 

This year’s jury presidents were: Alexandre O. Philippe, (Official Competition), Dionne Edwards (First Feature Competition), June Givanni, (Documentary Competition) and Chloe Abrahams (Short Film Competition). 

Oscar-winning director Adam Elliot’s tale of separated twins in 1970s Australia is a funny and moving stop-motion triumph. 

The Official Competition jury said: “Our jury was incredibly moved by Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail, which is a singular achievement in filmmaking. Emotionally resonant and constantly surprising, Memoir tackles pertinent issues such as bullying, loneliness and grief head-on, creating a crucial and universal dialogue in a way that only animation can. The jury is delighted to recognise an animated film alongside its live-action peers.” 

An intricately crafted story brimming with imagination that dares to say the unsayable about a sexual predator in a close-knit Zambian community. 

The importance of human connection lies at the heart of this nuanced portrait of a young Portuguese warehouse employee in Scotland. 

The First Feature Jury said: “We would like to give the Sutherland Prize to Laura Carreira‘s On Falling, a richly-layered portrait of a world governed by corporate profit motive, as seen through the story of an immigrant woman whose alienation we feel deeply, told with masterful cinematic precision and understated, lived in performances. A powerful, mesmerising and bold first feature. Congratulations to Carreira, we look forward to seeing where her cinematic journey goes next.” 

A kaleidoscopic feast for the eyes and ears that playfully blurs the line between memory and reality while masterfully exploring a range of animation styles. 

A visually striking documentary about a young Orthodox nun who must confront her past as she faces her desires and an uncertain future. 

The Documentary Competition Jury said: “This exquisite film masterfully captures the inner transformation of its central character using evocative visuals that mirror her emotional journey. Each frame is rich with detail, and the directors’ sensitive approach allows the audience to intimately experience Vera’s perspective as her story evolves. The balance of aesthetic beauty and emotional depth makes Mother Vera a powerful meditation on personal growth and resilience, and the delicate treatment of momentous issues such as addiction, lost love and faith is executed with profound potency. The Grierson Award goes to Mother Vera, directed by Cécile Embleton and Alys Tomlinson.” 

Focusing on the groundbreaking work of Oxford professor Patricia Kingori, The Shadow Scholars shines a powerful light on the multi-billion-dollar global underworld of academic essay-writing, where overqualified yet underemployed young Kenyans write essays for students across the globe. Through Kingori’s search, the film presents a nuanced and layered exploration of an issue that not only deals with academic integrity but also highlights broader socioeconomic inequalities and ethical concerns, including artificial intelligence. The Shadow Scholars amplifies and empowers the voices of the shadows themselves, and Eloise King’s careful and insightful direction makes this work a thought-provoking and vital contribution to the global conversation on education. 

A documentary offering a glimpse into the resilience of Palestinian Deaf children in Gaza, who are living with Israel’s military attacks. 

The Short Film Competition Jury said: “We were astonished by the calibre of films in this competition and struggled to only award one film. We would like to give a special mention to Dragfox, a surprisingly moving and impressive stop-motion animation musical, which left our hearts melting after just eight minutes. Not a single frame was wasted. 

“Our winner is a film that used sound to send reverberations through our bodies and souls. Through its simplicity of storytelling, Vibrations from Gaza demands our presence, urging us not only to bear witness but to deeply reflect on the impact of growing up deaf in Gaza — a reality that many of us could never fully comprehend.” 

A child struggling with their identity and a charismatic fox learn to embrace their differences in this heartwarming stop-motion animation. 

• Official Competition (Best Film Award) – Jury President Alexandre O. Philippe (Director, 78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene), Manori Ravindran and Reinaldo Marcus Green 
• First Feature Competition (Sutherland Award) – Jury President Dionne Edwards (Director, Pretty Red Dress), Julia Weigl and Bernardo Rondeau 
• Documentary Competition (Grierson Award) – Jury President June Givanni (Curator, programmer and founder of The June Givanni Pan-African Cinema Archive), Ella Glendining and Raul Niño Zambrano 
• Short Film Competition (Short Film Award) – Jury President Chloe Abrahams (Director, The Taste of Mango), Simisolaoluwa Akande and George Jaques