Kneecap sweeps the BIFAs

Seven awards for Irish outsider

by Jennie Kermode

Kneecap
Kneecap

Kneecap dominated the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) tonight, winning seven prizes, including Best British Independent Film and Best Début Screenwriter (for Rich Peppiat). After struggling to find support early on, it's now on track for international success, and has even been tipped to make the Oscar shortlist.

It was a good night for outsiders all round, with Grand Theft Hamlet and On Becoming A Guinea Fowl also enjoying success.

The event was hosted by Peter Serafinowicz and presenters included Alicia Vikander, Martin Freeman, Indira Varma and James Norton.

Those award winners in full:

Best British independent film

  • Kneecap - Rich Peppiatt, Trevor Birney, Jack Tarling

Best international independent film

  • Anora - Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan

Best director

Best screenplay

Best lead performance

Best supporting performance

  • Franz Rogowski - Bird

Best joint lead performance

  • Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, JJ Ó Dochartaigh - Kneecap

Best Ensemble

  • Wicked Little Letters - Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Anjana Vasan, Joanna Scanlan, Gemma Jones, Malachi Kirby, Lolly Adefope, Eileen Atkins, Timothy Spall and Hugh Skinner.

Best début director

  • Christopher Andrews - Bring Them Down

Breakthrough producer

  • Balthazar De Ganay, James Bowsher - Santosh [also produced by Mike Goodridge, Alan McAlex]

Breakthrough performance

Best début screenwriter

Best début director – Feature Documentary

Raindance maverick award

Best feature documentary

  • Witches - Elizabeth Sankey, Jeremy Warmsley, Chiara Ventura, Manon Ardisson

Best British short film

  • Wander To Wonder - Nina Gantz, Stienette Bosklopper, Simon Cartwright, Daan Bakker, Maarten Swart

Best casting

Best cinematography

Best costume design

Best editing

  • Julian Ulrichs, Chris Gill – Kneecap

Best effects

Best music supervision

  • Gary Welch, Jeanette Rehnstrom – Kneecap

Best make-up & hair design

  • Lisa Mustafa - Unicorns

Best original music

  • Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante - Kneecap

Best production design

  • Jan Houllevigue - The Assessment

Best sound

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Towards the end of 2024, we covered DOC NYC, the French Film Festival UK, Tallinn Black Nights, the Leeds International Film Festival, Abertoir, the London Korean Film Festival, the Belfast Film Festival and Halloween Frightfest.



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