The London Evening Standard has handed out a set of film prizes which will not be familiar to most seasoned awards observers.
Colin Firth – who’s won every Best Actor honour that counts so far, including the Golden Globe and SAG Award – was beaten by Andrew Garfield, who’s nominated at the Oscars only in the Best Supporting Actor category for The Social Network. The London paper’s prizes – decided by six critics – also honoured Garfield for his role as the love interest of Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan in Never Let Me Go, which failed to secure any nominations for either the Oscars or BAFTAs.
The King’s Speech itself also missed out in the Best Film category to Peter Mullan’s Neds.
In another break from the pattern of Awards Season to date, the Best Actress honour went to Kristin Scott Thomas, for her role in the French adultery drama Leaving. While she’s not a stranger to awards, this role hasn’t been recognised anywhere other than at the French César Awards, where she received a nomination.
Neither Andrew Garfield nor Kristin Scott Thomas were at the London Film Museum ceremony to collect their awards.
Other prizes included a Best Comedy award for Roger Allam for his performance in Tamara Drewe, a technical award for Gareth Edwards, who created the aliens for his debut feature Monsters on a laptop in his bedroom and a Best Screenplay prize for Clio Barnard for her film The Arbor, which was well received at the London FIlm Festival and the British Independent Film Awards.
There was also a special award honouring Christopher Nolan for his contribution to cinema.