British Independent Film Awards winners 2013

Philippines-set crime drama Metro Manila picked up three trophies at this year’s British Independent Film Awards, taking Best British Independent Film, Best Director for Sean Ellis, and Best Achievement in Production.

A British-Filipino co-production, Metro Manila is the second feature by the Brighton-born director (following 2008’s The Broken) and his first in the Tagalog language. It’s a thriller about a Filipino man who moves to Manila with his family from the countryside, falling in with bad company and taking work as an armoured car driver.

The rest of the categories saw an even spread of winners, with Lindsay Duncan taking Best Actress for Le Week-end and James McAvoy named Best Actor for Filth. Imogen Poots was Best Supporting Actress for The Look of Love, with the Best Supporting Actor gong going to Ben Mendelsohn for prison drama Starred Up.

As previously announced, Julie Walters was honoured with the Richard Harris Award, recognising an outstanding contribution by an actor to British film, and Captain Phillips director Paul Greengrass took the Variety Award, given to a director, writer or producer whose work has put UK film in the international spotlight.

“This has been a standout year for British film,” says Ben Roberts, the Director of the BFI Film Fund, “and the BIFAs has once again kicked off the awards season in style, putting the wild creativity and bold storytelling of the UK’s independent sector centre stage. Congratulations to all the winners and to the BIFAs for doing such a great job of spotlighting so many brilliant filmmakers.”

The evening was a definite success story for Scottish talent. To James McAvoy’s win in the acting category can be added Chloe Pirrie’s award as Best Newcomer for her performance in Scott Graham’s Highlands-set family drama Shell. Another newcomer, Fife-born Paul Wright took the Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director for his atmospheric first feature For Those in Peril.

“Thanks to an independent film industry which encompasses so many different cultures, personalities, visions and voices,” comment Johanna von Fischer and Tessa Collinson, BIFA’s joint directors, “Britain is producing a new generation of fearless artists both behind and in front of the camera who represent that richness of our diverse British society. With so many of the films exploring themes about being less judgmental and more forgiving, this perhaps reflects a movement within British independent filmmaking that brings much hope for the future.”

Sponsored by Moët & Chandon     

Metro Manila

Sponsored by AllCity & Intermission

Sean Ellis – Metro Manila   

Sponsored by 3 Mills Studios 

Paul Wright – For Those in Peril   

Steven Knight – Locke

Sponsored by M.A.C Cosmetics

Lindsay Duncan – Le Week-end

Sponsored by BBC Films
     
James McAvoy – Filth

Imogen Poots – The Look of Love

Sponsored by Sanderson & St Martins Lane
     
Ben Mendelsohn – Starred Up

Sponsored by Studiocanal
     
Chloe Pirrie – Shell

Sponsored by Company3
     
Metro Manila

Sponsored by LightBrigade Media
    
Amy Hubbard – Casting – The Selfish Giant

Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer

Supported by BFI NET.WORK
    
Z1

Blue Is the Warmest Colour

Sponsored by Wentworth Media and Arts
    
The Machine

Julie Walters

Paul Greengrass

Sixteen Films