BIFA winners announced

Good night for God's Own Country, Lady Macbeth and I Am Not A Witch

by Amber Wilkinson

Johnny and Gheorghe, played by Josh O'Connor and Alec Secareanu, in God's Own Country
Johnny and Gheorghe, played by Josh O'Connor and Alec Secareanu, in God's Own Country Photo: Courtesy of EIFF
Francis Lee's farm LGBT romance God's Own Country took home the top prize at the British Independent Film Awards last night. It's star Josh O'Connor, who plays a sheep farmer who falls for a migrant worker, was named best actor, while Lee also picked up the gong for best debut screenwriter.

The night reflected a strong year for British film, with no single film dominating the awards. William Oldroyd's dark costume drama Lady Macbeth won the best screenplay award for Alice Birch, while its star Florence Pugh was named best actress and her co-star Naomi Ackie judged most promising newcomer. Cinematographer Ari Wegner was also honoured for his work on the film. The best directing award went to Rungano Nyoni for her drama I Am Not A Witch along with the Douglas Hickox award for best debut director.

The best international film was Jordan Peele's Get Out. Supporting actor and actress honours went to Patricia Clarkson for The Party and Simon Russell Beale for The Death Of Stalin, which also did well in the technical awards.

The full list of nominees and winners is below:

Best British Independent Film

Best International Independent Film

Best Director

Best Screenplay

Best Actress

Best Actor

Best Supporting Actress

Best Supporting Actor

Most Promising Newcomer

Best Debut Director

Debut Screenwriter

Breakthrough Producer

The Discovery Award

  • Even When I Fall, Sky Neal, Kate Mclarnon, Elhum Shakerifar
  • Halfway, Ben Caird, Jonny Paterson
  • WINNER: In Another Life, Jason Wingard, Hannah Stevenson, Rebecca Clare Evans
  • Isolani, R Paul Wilson, Lisa Hague
  • My Pure Land, Sarmad Masud, Bill Kenwright

Best Documentary

  • WINNER: Almost Heaven, Carol Salter
  • Half Way, Daisy-May Hudson
  • Kingdom Of Us, Lucy Cohen, Julia Nottingham, Lucas Ochoa, Thomas Benski, Bill Rudgard
  • Uncle Howard, Aaron Brookner, Paula Vaccaro
  • Williams, Morgan Matthews, Hayley Reynolds, Sarah Hamilton

Best British Short Film

  • 1745, Gordon Napier, Morayo Akandé, John Mckay
  • WINNER: Fish Story, Charlie Lyne, Catherine Bray, Anthony Ing
  • The Entertainer, Jonathan Schey, Jodie Brown, Jun Bung Lee
  • Work, Aneil Karia, Scott O’donnell
  • Wren Boys, Harry Lighton, John Fitzpatrick, Sorcha Bacon

Best Cinematography

Best Casting

Best Costume Design

Best Editing

Best Effects

Best Make Up & Hair Design

Best Music

Best Production Design

Best Sound

Share this with others on...
News

Inviting curiosity Ildikó Enyedi on the value of science, perception, discovery and Silent Friend

Streaming Spotlight: the rites of Spring We shine our Beltane spotlight on films in which the old ways linger

Fighting fit for a debut feature Valéry Carnoy talks toxic masculinity, memory, confidence and Belgian 'soft-power'

Collective power We look ahead at the programme of this year's Folk Film Gathering

Writing hidden messages Arnaud Desplechin on guilt, melodrama, feeling haunted, and Two Pianos

Clever crafting with Idiots Chris Barfoot on his six-camera set up and three-day shoot of his debut feature

More news and features

We're bringing you news and reviews from the San Francisco Independent Film Festival and Queer East.



We're looking forward to Cannes.



We've recently brought you coverage of Visions du Réel, Fantaspoa, Overlook, BFI Flare and SXSW, the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, the NY Rendezvous with French Cinema, the Glasgow Film Festival, the Berlinale, Sundance and Palm Springs.



Read our full for more.


Visit our festivals section.

Interact

Don't forget that you can follow us on YouTube for trailers of festival films and more. You can also find us on Mastodon and Bluesky.


It's a busy time for festivals and here's the latest from the spring events:


Cannes 16 titles added to line-up


Cannes Announces full jury


Cannes Directors' Fortnight selection


Cannes Payal Kapadia heads Critics' Week jury