The capital has been the home of some of the biggest names and films in the industry over the past ten days, and with the festival finally coming to a close tomorrow, the results are in for the official competition categories.
Sir David Hare, Tom Hiddleston, David Yates, Sebastian Faulks, Olivia Colman, Kazuo Ishiguru, and many more prominent names presided over the various Juries, and with so much talent this year, I don’t envy what must have been very difficult decisions.
Also being honoured this year are Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter, both of whom have been presented with the BFI Fellowship, the highest honour from the film institute. The former brought his latest feature, Frankenweenie, to the festival for its opening night, whilst the latter stars in Mike Newell’s Great Expectations, bookending the festival nicely as the Closing Night Film.
With the festival now coming to an end tomorrow, you can catch up on all our coverage here from the past week and a half, and without further ado, here are the results. If you’ve been attending the screenings alongside us, let us know what you think of the various categories’ winners in the comments below.
Best Film Award
- Rust and Bone, Jacques Audiard, France/Belgium
- After Lucia, Michel Franco, Mexico
- End of Watch, David Ayer, USA
- EVERYDAY, Michael Winterbottom, UK
- Fill The Void, Rama Burshtein, Israel
- Ginger and Rosa, Sally Potter, UK
- In the House, François Ozon, France
- It Was The Son, Daniele Ciprì, Italy/France
- Lore, Cate Shortland, Germany/Australia/UK
- Midnight’s Children, Deepa Mehta, Canada/UK
- No, Pablo Larraín, Chile/USA/Mexico
- Seven Psychopaths, Martin McDonagh, USA/UK
David Hare said:
Jacques Audiard has a unique handwriting, made up of music, montage, writing, photography, sound, visual design and acting. He is one of only a very small handful of film-makers in the world who has mastered, and can integrate, every element of the process to one purpose: making, in Rust and Bone, a film full of heart, violence and love. The jury also admired, and commended, After Lucia, in particular for its terrifying portrayal of school bullying; and the highly original No, a study of how controversial advertising techniques contributed to the end of General Pinochet.
Best First Feature – The Sutherland Award
- Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin, USA
- Clip, Maja Miloš, Serbia
- The Comedian, Tom Shkolnik, UK
- Eat Sleep Die, Gabriela Pichler, Sweden
- My Brother The Devil, Sally EI Hosaini, UK
- Neighbouring Sounds, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil
- The Samurai that Night, Masaaki Akahori, Japan
- Shell, Scott Graham, UK
- Ship of Theseus, Anand Gandhi, India
- Sleeper’s Wake, Barry Berk, South Africa
- Tomorrow, Andrey Gryazev, Russia
- Wadjda, Haifaa Al Mansour, Saudi Arabia/Germany
Hannah McGill said:
“We commended Anand Gandhi’s incredibly ambitious Ship of Theseus, for tickling our intellect and showing us rarely-seen facets of Indian life; as well as Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Wadjda, a profound but wickedly funny take on Saudi Arabia’s assault on female autonomy. However one film stood out as most clearly deserving of the top prize recognising innovation and originality: Benh Zeitlin’s daringly vast, richly detailed Beasts of the Southern Wild.”
Best Documentary – The Grierson Award
- Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, Alex Gibney, USA/Ireland
- Beware of Mr. Baker, Jay Bulger, USA/South Africa
- Canned Dreams, Katja Gauriloff, Finland
- The Central Park Five, Ken Burns, David McMahon, Sarah Burns, USA
- The Ethnographer, Ulises Rosell, Argentina
- For No Good Reason, Charlie Paul, UK
- Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, Shola Lynch, USA/France
- Les Invisibles, Sébastien Lifshitz, France
- The Summit, Nick Ryan, Ireland/Switzerland
- Turned Towards The Sun, Greg Olliver, UK/France/Germany
- Village at the End of the World, Sarah Gavron, UK/Denmark/Greenland
- West of Memphis, Amy Berg, USA
Roger Graef, President of the jury said:
Mea Maxima Culpa was the unanimous choice of the judges. It was a life-changing film that was made with real integrity. The use of deaf men for interviews finally telling their story was both very distinctive and respectful. The journalism showed an extraordinary paper trail of events leading right to the Vatican in an incredibly compelling manner. It deeply affected the judges who said ‘it sat in the gut.’.
Best British Newcomer Award
- Sally EI Hosaini, Director/Screenwriter, My Brother the Devil
- Fady Elsayed, Actor, My Brother the Devil
- Rufus Norris, Director, Broken
- Eloise Laurence, Actor, Broken
- Chloe Pirrie, Actor, Shell
- Scott Graham, Director/Screenwriter, Shell
- Tom Shkolnik, Director/Screenwriter, The Comedian
- Rowan Athale, Director/Screenwriter, Wasteland
Jury president David Heyman said:
Sally El Hosaini’s writing and direction displayed a remarkable maturity. The film transcended its genre with lyricism and tenderness and possessed a wonderful emotional truth.
