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| Class Enemy won the top prize at Bradford Film Festival |
The 20th edition of the Bradford International Film Festival came to a close today with the announcement of its awards.
The winner of the Bradford UNESCO City Of Film European Competition was Class Enemy, directed by Rok Bicek and co-written by Nejc Gazvoda and Janez Lapajne, which tells the story of a teacher whose pupils rebel after tragedy hits the school.
The blackly comic short Cadet, directed by Kevin Meul, was named the winner of the 2014 Shine Short Film Competition. Meanwhile, the Best Of BIFF competition - which saw audiences vote for their favourite British film at the festival from the past 20 years - went to Martin McDonagh's In Bruges.
The final day of the festival also saw actor Brian Cox take part in a screen talk and receive his Lifetime Achievement Award. Other highlights of this year's festival included a tribute to avant garde filmmaker James Benning, who introduced several of his films at the festival, including Deseret and Casting A Glance, took part in Q&As and joined a special appearance event.
Exhibition director Joanna Hogg also took part in a lively Q&A after a preview screening of her marital drama, which will be released in cinemas on April 25.
Speaking about the attendance and reaction to the festival co-director Neil Young said: "The numbers won't be crunched for a few days yet but the visual impression I've had is that the overall attendance is up on last year, which is good news given the ongoing financial situation that is hitting places like Bradford particularly hard.
"I'm especially pleased with the turnout for the James Benning section, which isn't an obviously boffo box office proposition on paper, and I know James himself has been pleased with the reaction to the tribute. Onward, upward."
You can read our coverage of Bradford here, with more to come in the next few days.
