Winners announced at the British Independent Film Awards 2022

Charlotte Wells’ moving summer-holiday drama Aftersun has won seven awards at the 25th British Independent Film Awards, announced at a ceremony at Old Billingsgate last night. Along with the award for best British independent film, it won Wells best director, best debut director and best screenplay.

The film was one of six winning titles funded by the BFI using National Lottery money, winning 12 awards between them. Georgia Oakley’s Section 28 era drama Blue Jean – backed by the BFI Film Fund – won four awards, including best lead performance for Rosy McEwen and best supporting performance for Kerrie Hayes. Oakley also won best debut screenwriter.

Kathryn Ferguson’s Sinead O’Connor profile Nothing Compares, funded via the BFI Doc Society Fund, won the award for best documentary. Best British short went to Too Rough, a film produced through BFI NETWORK.

Among the other acting prizes, breakthrough performance went to Safia Oakley-Green in Andrew Cummings’ BFI-backed horror film The Origin, with the ensemble cast of Our River… Our Sky winning best ensemble performance and Tamara Lawrance and Letitia Wright winning best joint lead for The Silent Twins.

Joachim Trier’s romantic drama The Worst Person in the World – the release of which was supported via the BFI Audience Fund – took home the award for best international independent film. Samantha Morton won the Richard Harris Award for outstanding contribution to British film.

Craft categories were announced in November, with Aftersun recognised for its cinematography editing and music supervision, Blue Jean getting best casting and another BFI funded debut, Medusa Complex, winning best makeup and hair.

Mia Bays, director of the BFI Film Fund, says: “The BIFAs allows the film industry to unite around the originality, the risk taking and narrative brilliance that makes our indie film sector so dynamic and energising, especially, as was the case last night, around new and emerging talent and diversifying who tells what story. We are so incredibly proud that BFI-supported filmmakers and films took home so many awards and we honour both the talent as well as our partners in these celebrations. It is a privilege to work on these projects and to be a part of their journey to the screen. None of this work would be possible without National Lottery funding or our wonderful team at the BFI, alongside the many collaborators who helped to nurture these gems and bring them to this point of fruition.”

Winner: Aftersun – Charlotte Wells, Barry Jenkins, Mark Ceryak, Adele Romanski, Amy Jackson

Blue Jean – Georgia Oakley, Hélène Sifre
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande – Sophie Hyde, Katy Brand, Debbie Gray, Adrian Politowski
Living – Oliver Hermanus, Kazuo Ishiguro, Stephen Woolley, Elizabeth Karlsen
The Wonder – Sebastián Lelio, Emma Donoghue, Alice Birch, Juliette Howell, Andrew Lowe, Tessa Ross, Ed Guiney

Winner: Charlotte Wells – Aftersun

Oliver Hermanus – Living
Sophie Hyde – Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Sebastián Lelio – The Wonder
Georgia Oakley – Blue Jean

Winner: Charlotte Wells – Aftersun

Katy Brand – Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Kazuo Ishiguro – Living
Sebastián Lelio, Alice Birch, Emma Donoghue – The Wonder
Georgia Oakley – Blue Jean

Winner: Rosy McEwen – Blue Jean

Sally Hawkins – The Lost King
Cosmo Jarvis – It Is In Us All
Emma Mackey – Emily
Bill Nighy – Living
Florence Pugh – The Wonder
Emily Watson – God’s Creatures
Hala Zein – Nezouh

Winner: Kerrie Hayes – Blue Jean

Zoey Deutch – The Outfit
Aisling Franciosi – God’s Creatures
Lucy Halliday – Blue Jean
Zainab Joda – Our River… Our Sky
Fatma Mohamed – Flux Gourmet
Paul Mescal – God’s Creatures
Fionn Whitehead – Emily
Aimee Lou Wood – Living

Winner: Tamara Lawrance, Letitia Wright – The Silent Twins

Frankie Corio, Paul Mescal – Aftersun
Daryl McCormack, Emma Thompson – Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Jessie Buckley, Rory Kinnear – Men

Winner: Our River… Our Sky ensemble including Zainab Joda, Darina Al Joundi, Amed Hashimi, Mahmoud Abo Al Abbas, Basim Hajar, Labwa Arab, Meriam Abbas, Siham Mustafa

Blue Jean ensemble including Rosy McEwen, Kerrie Hayes, Lucy Halliday, Lydia Page, Stacy Abalogun, Farrah Cave, Amy Booth-Steel
Emily ensemble including Amelia Gething, Emma Mackey, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Fionn Whitehead, Alexandra Dowling, Gemma Jones, Adrian Dunbar
Flux Gourmet ensemble including Makis Papadimitriou, Gwendoline Christie, Asa Butterfield, Fatma Mohamed, Ariane Labed, Richard Bremmer
The Wonder ensemble including Kíla Lord Cassidy, Florence Pugh, Tom Burke, Toby Jones, Niamh Algar, Elaine Cassidy, Ciarán Hinds, Brían F. O’Byrne, Josie Walker

Winner: Charlotte Wells – Aftersun

Andrew Cumming – The Origin
Thomas Hardiman – Medusa Deluxe
Frances O’Connor – Emily
Georgia Oakley – Blue Jean

Winner: Nadira Murray – Winners [also produced by Paul Welsh]

Aleksandra Bilić, Jennifer Corcoran – Nascondino [Hide & Seek]
Paul Kennedy – Nightride [also produced by Jon Silk]
Rupert Majendie – Brian and Charles
Hélène Sifre – Blue Jean

Winner: Safia Oakley-Green – The Origin

Frankie Corio – Aftersun
Leo Long – I Used to Be Famous
Kíla Lord Cassidy – The Wonder
Rosy McEwen – Blue Jean

Winner: Georgia Oakley – Blue Jean

Shane Crowley – God’s Creatures
David Earl, Chris Hayward – Brian and Charles
Ruth Greenberg – The Origin
Charlotte Wells – Aftersun

Winner: Kathryn Ferguson – Nothing Compares

Victoria Fiore – Nascondino [Hide & Seek]
Leah Gordon, Eddie Hutton Mills – Kanaval
Jono McLeod – My Old School
Becky Hutner – Fashion Reimagined

Winner: Winners – Hassan Nazer, Nadira Murray, Paul Welsh

Electric Malady – Marie Lidén, Aimara Reques
Fadia’s Tree – Sarah Beddington, Susan Simnett
Off the Rails – Peter Day, Grant Keir, Rob Alexander
Rebellion – Elena Sánchez Bellot, Maia Kenworthy, Kat Mansoor

Winner: Nothing Compares – Kathryn Ferguson, Eleanor Emptage, Michael Mallie

My Childhood, My Country – 20 Years in Afghanistan Phil Grabsky, Shoaib Sharifi, Amanda Wilkie
My Old School – Jono McLeod, John Archer, Olivia Lichtenstein
Nascondino [Hide & Seek] – Victoria Fiore, Jennifer Corcoran, Aleksandra Bilić
Young Plato – Neasa Ní Chianáin, Declan McGrath, David Rane

Winner: Too Rough – Sean Lìonadh, Ross McKenzie, Alfredo Covelli

A Fox in the Night – Keeran Anwar Blessie, Benjamin Jacob Smith
Honesty – Roxy Rezvany, Emily Renée, Elly Camisa
Sandstorm – Seemab Gul, Abid Aziz Merchant
Scale – Joseph Pierce, Hélène Mitjavile

Winner: The Worst Person in the World – Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar, Thomas Robsahm

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed – Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin, Yoni Golijov,
Close – Lukas Dhont, Angelo Tijssens, Michiel Dhont, Dirk Impens
Decision to Leave – Park Chan-wook, Chung Seo-Kyung
Everything Everywhere All at Once – Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang, Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Mike Larocca

Winner: Shaheen Baig – Blue Jean

Leila Bertrand – Our River… Our Sky
Kharmel Cochrane – The Silent Twins
Kahleen Crawford – Living
Lucy Pardee – Aftersun

Winner: Gregory Oke – Aftersun

Nascondino [Hide & Seek] – Alfredo De Juan
Rob Hardy – Men
Joel Honeywell – Kanaval
Ari Wegner – The Wonder

Winner: Jenny Beavan – Mrs Harris Goes to Paris

Saffron Cullane – Flux Gourmet
Odile Dicks-Mireaux – The Wonder
Frank Gallacher – Aftersun
Sandy Powell – Living

Winner: Blair McClendon – Aftersun

Joanna Crickmay – Elizabeth: A Portrait In Parts
Izabella Curry – Blue Jean
Mátyás Fekete – Flux Gourmet
Mick Mahon – Nothing Compares

Winner: Matthew Herbert – The Wonder

Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans – God’s Creatures
Oliver Coates – Aftersun
Adam Janota Bzowski – The Origin
Ben Salisbury, Geoff Barrow – Men

Winner: Eugene Souleiman, Scarlett O’Connell – Medusa Deluxe

Oya Aygör, Murat Çağin – Aftersun
Morna Ferguson, Lorri Ann King – The Wonder
Siobhan Harper-Ryan – Flux Gourmet
Niamh Morrison – The Origin

Winner: David Simpson – Men

Chris Marshall – The Feast
Ahmed Yousry – Nezouh

Winner: Lucy Bright – Aftersun

Phil Canning – The Phantom of the Open
Rupert Hollier – Living

Winner: Tim Harrison, Raoul Brand, Cassandra Rutledge – Flux Gourmet

Glenn Freemantle, Ben Barker, Gillian Dodders, Howard Bargoff, Mitch Low – Men
Jovan Ajder – Aftersun
Hugh Fox, Ben Baird – The Wonder
Dom Corbisiero, Dai Shell – The Feast

Winner: Helen Scott – Living

Fletcher Jarvis – Flux Gourmet
Grant Montgomery – The Wonder
Billur Turan – Aftersun
Gary Williamson – Medusa Deluxe

Samantha Morton

Open Door