As 2024 nears its end, that can only mean one thing — awards season is upon us! And while various Critics' Circle and Guild bashes have already gott
As 2024 nears its end, that can only mean one thing — awards season is upon us! And while various Critics’ Circle and Guild bashes have already gotten underway, tonight was the first major event of the season on this side of the pond: the British Independent Film Awards. Hosted by Peter Serafinowicz at London’s Roundhouse, the ceremony saw Rich Peppiatt’s barnstorming Irish rap trio biopic Kneecap — already one of Empire‘s Best Movies of 2024 — emerge as the night’s biggest winner. In all, the film (which is streaming now on Prime Video UK) picked up seven gongs on the night, including Best British Independent Film, Best Joint Lead Performance for Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, JJ Ó Dochartaigh, and Best Debut Screenwriter for Peppiatt.
In the other key acting categories, Marianne Jean-Baptiste won Best Lead Performance for her emotional, incendiary turn as embattled matriarch Pansy in Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, the film that reunited its director and star some 28 years since their last collaboration, Secrets And Lies. For his role as the titular Bird in Andrea Arnold’s magical-social-realist fable, Franz Rogowski’s beat out the likes of co-star Barry Keoghan, Hard Truths‘ Michele Austin, and Hoard actor Hayley Squires to win Best Supporting Performance.
Elsewhere, Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming A Guinea Fowl picked up two substantial awards — Best Director for Nyoni, and Best Breakthrough Performance for star Susan Chardy — while game-based documentary Grand Theft Hamlet enjoyed success with a brace of wins too. Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls landed a Best Debut Director — Feature Documentary nod for the fruits of their lockdown labours, and the movie also picked up the self-explanatorily titled Raindance Maverick Award for GTH‘s *ahem* game changing approach to the form. And, while this is the British Independent Film Awards, on the Best International Independent Film front, Sean Baker’s Anora picked up the top honour, with the director dedicating the win to British boyband Take That, whose ‘Greatest Day’ provides the music for the movie’s jaw-slackening opening.
Read on for a rundown a rundown of all the key categories being contested on the night, with the winners highlighted in bold.
British Independent Film Awards 2024 Results
Best British Independent Film
Kneecap
Love Lies Bleeding
On Becoming A Guinea Fowl
The Outrun
Santosh
Best International Independent Film
All We Imagine As Light
Anora
La Chimera
No Other Land
The Seed Of The Sacred Fig
Best Director
Andrea Arnold — Bird
Nora Fingscheidt — The Outrun
Rose Glass — Love Lies Bleeding
Rungano Nyoni — On Becoming A Guinea Fowl
Rich Peppiatt — Kneecap
Best Screenplay
Nora Fingscheidt, Amy Liptrot — The Outrun
Rose Glass, Weronika Tofilska — Love Lies Bleeding
Rungano Nyoni — On Becoming A Guinea Fowl
Rich Peppiatt — Kneecap
Sandhya Suri — Santosh
Best Lead Performance
Radhika Apte — Sister Midnight
Susan Chardy — On Becoming A Guinea Fowl
Marianne Jean-Baptiste — Hard Truths
Elliott Page — Close To You
Saoirse Ronan — The Outrun
Alicia Vikander — The Assessment
Best Supporting Performance
Michele Austin — Hard Truths
Elizabeth Chisela — On Becoming A Guinea Fowl
Barry Keoghan — Bird
Jack O’Connell — Back To Black
Franz Rogowski — Bird
Hayley Squires — Hoard
Best Joint Lead Performance
Joseph Quinn, Saura Lightfoot-Leon — Hoard
Katy O’Brian, Kristen Stewart — Love Lies Bleeding
Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, JJ Ó Dochartaigh — Kneecap
Jason Patel, Ben Hardy — Unicorns
The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director)
Christopher Andrews — Bring Them Down
Luna Carmoon — Hoard
James Krishna Floyd — Unicorns (co-directed by Sally El Hosaini)
Karen Kandhari — Sister Midnight
Rich Peppiatt — Kneecap
The Raindance Maverick Award
The Ceremony
Grand Theft Hamlet
Restless
Satu — Year Of The Rabbit
Witches
Breakthrough Performance
Nykiya Adams — Bird
Susan Chardy — On Becoming A Guinea Fowl
Saura Lightfoot-Leon — Hoard
Ruaridh Mollica — Sebastian
Jason Patel — Unicorns
Best Feature Documentary
The Contestant
Grand Theft Hamlet
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other
Witches
For a full list of all the winners at this years BIFAs, please head this way.
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