30/10/2006

In a very strong year for British filmmaking, Shane Meadows’ This is England [+see also:
trailer
film profile] is taking the lead in the nominations for the 9th British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) with seven nominations, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay.

Meadows’ film will meet stiff competition, in particular from Stephen Frears’ The Queen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andy Harries
interview: Stephen Frears
film profile] and Kevin MacDonald’s The Last King of Scotland, both nominated six times. Among the leading contenders for Best Actress, Helen Mirren will also receive the prestigious prize Variety UK Personality of the Year prize during the awards ceremony in London’s Hammersmith Palais on the evening of November 29.

Other competitors in the Best Film category are the two Cannes winners: Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ken Loach
interview: Rebecca O’Brien
film profile] ( see focus) and Andrea Arnold’s Red Road [+see also:
trailer
film profile], both nominated four times.

Five films will compete in the Best Foreign Independent Film category, including Pedro Almodovar’s Volver [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agustín Almodóvar
interview: Carmen Maura
interview: Pedro Almodóvar
interview: Pénélope Cruz
film profile], Michael Haneke’s Hidden [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Margaret Menegoz
interview: Michael Haneke
film profile] and Jacques Audiard’s The Beat My Heart Skipped [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

Created in 1998, The BIFAs celebrate merit and achievement in independently funded British filmmaking and are regarded as a kick-off to the awards season. This year’s jury, chaired by Sandy Lieberson, consists of Reuben Barnes, Martin Childs, Anne V Coates, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Alan Cumming, Leo Davis, Anna Friel, Jason Isaacs, Mick Jones, Damian Lewis, Helen McCrory, Damien O’Donnell, Kelly Reilly, Martin Sherman and Colin Salmon.

Complete list of BIFAs nominations:

BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM
The Last King of Scotland
The Queen
Red Road
This is England
The Wind That Shakes the Barley

BEST DIRECTOR
Kevin Macdonald – The Last King of Scotland
Stephen Frears – The Queen
Michael Caton Jones –Shooting Dogs [+see also:
trailer
film profile]
Shane Meadows – This is England
Ken Loach – The Wind that Shakes the Barley

BEST ACTOR
Forest Whitaker – The Last King of Scotland
Peter O’Toole – Venus
Cillian Murphy – The Wind that Shakes the Barley
Tony Curran – Red Road
James McAvoy – The Last King of Scotland

BEST ACTRESS
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Kate Dickie – Red Road
Frances de la Tour –The History Boys
Robin Wright Penn – Breaking & Entering
Juliette Binoche – Breaking & Entering

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR / ACTRESS
Martin Compston – Red Road
Leslie Phillips – Venus
Vanessa Redgrave – Venus
Joseph Gilgun – This is England
Stephen Graham – This is England

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER
Jodie Whittaker -Venus
Thomas Turgoose – This is England
Samuel Barnett –The History Boys
Harry and Luke Treadaway – Brothers of the Head [+see also:
trailer
film profile]
Dominic Cooper – The History Boy
Rafi Gavron – Breaking & Entering

BEST SCREENPLAY
Alan Bennett – The History Boys
Peter Morgan – The Queen
Hanif Kureishi – Venus
Shane Meadows –This is England
Peter Morgan & Jeremy Brock – The Last King of Scotland

BEST FOREIGN INDEPENDENT FILM
Volver
Hidden
The Beat My Heart Skipped
Brick
Hard Candy

THE DOUGLAS HICKOX AWARD
(BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR)
Menhaj Huda - Kidulthood
Paul Andrew Williams –London to Brighton
Andrea Arnold – Red Road
Tom Vaughan – Starter For Ten
Caradog W James – Little White Lies

BEST BRITISH DOCUMENTARY
The Road to Guantanamo [+see also:
trailer
film profile]
Blindsight
The Great Happiness Space
The Pervert’s Guide To Cinema
Unknown White Male

BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT
This is England – Music: Ludovico Einaudi (Original Music)
The Wind That Shakes The Barley – Cinematography: Barry Ackroyd
The Queen – Make-Up: Daniel Phillips
The Queen – Production Design: Alan MacDonald

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION
London to Brighton
Kidulthood
Shooting Dogs
The Road to Guantanamo
Severance [+see also:
trailer
film profile]

THE RAINDANCE AWARD
The Ballad of AJ Weberman
London to Brighton
Scenes of a Sexual Nature

THE VARIETY UK PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR
Helen Mirren