A prison drama that won the Best Newcomer honour for its first-time writer at the London Film Festival last month has scooped the most nominations at the British Independent Film Awards – the opening ceremony of a long film awards season that will end with the Oscars in February.
Starred Up will be up for eight awards, including Best British Independent Film, Best Director for David Mackenzie, Best Actor for Jack O’Connell and Best Screenplay for Jonathan Asser.
Clio Barnard’s tale of two outcast teenagers, The Selfish Giant, is hot on its heels, with seven nods, including the director, its two young stars and the film itself.
Filth, based on the novel by Irvin Welsh, the Filipino-set action film Metro Manila and Roger Michel’s grown-up Le Week-end each received five nominations.
Philomena, Steve Coogan and Judi Dench’s portrayal of a journalist helping an elderly Irish woman trace the son she was forced to give up five decades earlier, is up for four awards, including two for Coogan, as both writer and star and one for Dame Judi as Best Actress.
This will be one of the higher profile categories, with Dame Judi facing competition from Saoirse Ronan, for How I Live Now, Scarlett Johansson for Under The Skin, Felicity Jones in The Invisible Woman and Lindsay Duncan for Le Week-End.
Her co-star Jim Broadbent is also nominated, alongside Coogan, Starred Up’s O’Connell, Tom Hardy for Locke and Filth star James McAvoy.
Kristin Scott Thomas, Rupert Friend, Jeff Goldblum, Eddie Marsan and Mia Wasikowska are among the supporting acting nominees.
That film’s writer, Hanif Kureishi, is among the other better-known nominees, as is Woody Allen, whose Blue Jasmine is in contention for the Best International Independent Film prize.
But as an educational body, Raindance, which organises the awards, also makes an effort to honour newer talent. Last Passenger‘s director Omid Nooshin is among the nominees for Best Debut Director and Dylan’s Room, a winner at the recent Van D’Or Awards, is in the running for BIFA’s BFI-backed Best British Short Film prize.
The ceremony, to be held on 8th December at Old Billingsgate in London, will be hosted, for the eighth year running, by the actor James Nesbitt.
The full list of nominees:
Best British Independent Film
Metro Manila
Philomena
The Selfish Giant
Starred Up
Le Week-end
Best Director
Jon S Baird – Filth
Clio Barnard – The Selfish Giant
Sean Ellis – Metro Manila
Jonathan Glazer – Under the Skin
David Mackenzie – Starred Up
The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director)
Charlie Cattrall – Titus
Tina Gharavi – I Am Nasrine
Jeremy Lovering – In Fear
Omid Nooshin – Last Passenger
Paul Wright – For Those in Peril
Best Screenplay
Jonathan Asser – Starred Up
Clio Barnard – The Selfish Giant
Steven Knight – Locke
Hanif Kureishi – Le Week-end
Jeff Pope, Steve Coogan – Philomena
Best Actress
Judi Dench – Philomena
Lindsay Duncan – Le Week-end
Scarlett Johansson – Under the Skin
Felicity Jones – The Invisible Woman
Saoirse Ronan – How I Live Now
Best Actor
Jim Broadbent – Le Week-end
Steve Coogan – Philomena
Tom Hardy – Locke
Jack O’Connell – Starred Up
James McAvoy – Filth
Best Supporting Actress
Siobhan Finneran – The Selfish Giant
Shirley Henderson – Filth
Imogen Poots – The Look of Love
Kristin Scott Thomas – The Invisible Woman
Mia Wasikowska – The Double
Best Supporting Actor
John Arcilla – Metro Manila
Rupert Friend – Starred Up
Jeff Goldblum – Le Week-end
Eddie Marsan – Filth
Ben Mendelsohn – Starred Up
Most Promising Newcomer
Harley Bird – How I Live Now
Conner Chapman / Shaun Thomas – The Selfish Giant
Caity Lotz – The Machine
Jake Macapagal – Metro Manila
Chloe Pirrie – Shell
Best Achievement in Production
A Field in England
Filth
Metro Manila
The Selfish Giant
Starred Up
Best Technical Achievement
Shaheen Baig – Casting – Starred Up
Johnnie Burn – Sound Design – Under the Skin
Amy Hubbard – Casting – The Selfish Giant
Mica Levi – Music – Under the Skin
Justine Wright – Editing – Locke
Best Documentary
Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer
The Great Hip Hop Hoax
The Moo Man
The Spirit of ‘45
The Stone Roses: Made of Stone
Best British Short
L’Assenza
Dr Easy
Dylan’s Room
Jonah
Z1
Best International Independent Film
Blue Is the Warmest Colour
Blue Jasmine
Frances Ha
The Great Beauty
Wadjda
The Raindance Award
Everyone’s Going to Die
The Machine
The Patrol
Sleeping Dogs
Titus