For those who prefer independent cinema to the box office hits, the British Independent Film Awards offers a look into the best and most creative filmmaking of the year. This year’s ceremony took place on Sunday evening and was hosted by Ben Bailey Smith. The award show took place at Old Billingsgate in London, recognizing a wealth of talent from throughout 2022. If you are wondering who performed best at this year’s British Independent Film Awards, here’s all you need to know.
This year’s ceremony did things a little bit differently than previous years’ ceremonies, with male and female performance categories being replaced with gender-neutral categories. This comes in the wake of several award shows adopting this practice, including the Spirit Awards, Canadian Screen Awards, MTV Movie and TV awards, and the Grammys. Additionally, a Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary category was added, as well as the Best Music category being divided into Best Original Music and Best Music Supervision.
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How Many Awards Did Aftersun Win?
Aftersun had the best run of the night, taking home seven awards from 16 nominations. The categories included Best British Independent Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. The film was a feature directorial debut for Charlotte Wells. This coming-of-age drama follows the relationship between a father and daughter over a period of 20 years beginning with a vacation in Turkey.
It was also a big night for Georgia Oakley’s ‘Blue Jean,’ which won four awards: Best Lead Performance for Rosy McEwen, Best Supporting Performance for Kerrie Hayes, Best Debut Screenwriter for Oakley and Best Casting for Shaheen Baig. ‘Blue Jean’ is the story of a closeted PE teacher coming to terms with her identity in 1980s Britain.
Best Joint Lead Performance went to Tamara Lawrance and Letitia Wright in ‘The Silent Twins.’ Best Ensemble Performance went to the ensemble of ‘Our River…Our Sky.’ Breakthrough Performance went to Safia Oakley-Green for ‘The Origin.’ Best British Short Film went to ‘Too Rough’ and Best International Independent Film went to ‘The Worst Person In The World.’
Overall, it was a significant night for female filmmakers, with 10 of the biggest categories being secured by women and films directed by women. This is a significant achievement in an industry where women are still underrepresented, especially in terms of awards for directing. In the Oscars, for example, only 14% of all nominations have been for women, only five women have been nominated for Best Director, and only one woman has won the award.
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