The 12th British Independent Film Awards took place yesterday, and it was Duncan Jones’ fantastic sci-fi flick Moon that shone the brightest. It took the prizes for both Best British Independent Film and Best Debut Director (aka the Douglas Hickox Award).
However the makers of Moon weren’t the only ones smiling, as the Essex-set gritty housing estate drama Fish Tank also did well. The film scored the Best Director award for Andrea Arnold and also picked up Most Promising Newcomer for actress Kate Jarvis. Other celebrating include the writers of In The Loop, who took Best Screenplay, as well as Carey Mulligan, who scored the Best Actress gong for An Education and Tom Hardy, who won Best Actor for Bronson. Best Supporting Actress went to Anne-Marie Duff for Nowhere Boy, while John Henshaw won Best Supporting Actor for Looking For Eric.
Also honored at the ceremony were Daniel Day Lewis and Michael Caine. The former was handed the Richard Harris Award (for Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema), while the latter was given the Variety Award.
Click over to BIFA’s website for a list of all the winners, which does show there’s been quite a lot of good independent Brit flick this year.