Harry Lighton’s debut feature Pillion dominated this evening’s British Independent Film Awards in London, winning four awards, including Best British Independent Film.
Celia Imrie presented the award for Best British Independent Film to the Pillion team. The film tells the story of a charismatic biker who enters the life of a timid young man. Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling star in the movie. Lighton also won Best Debut Screenwriter, and the film won in the craft categories for Best Costume Design and Best Make Up & Hair Design.
Best Director went to Akinola Davies Jr for his debut feature, My Father’s Shadow. Tom Basden and Tim Key won Best Screenplay for their debut feature, The Ballad of Wallis Island, a music drama about a faded folk musician and his former partner who reluctantly reunite for an eccentric fan. The pair also won Best Joint Lead Performance.
The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) went to Cal McMau for Wasteman. Breakthrough Producer went to Dhiraj Mahey for Ish, which was also produced by Bennett McGhee. Robert Aramayo won the Best Lead Performance award for his role as John Davison in I Swear, and Best Supporting Performance went to Jay Lycurgo for Tim Mielants’s Steve.
The BIFA for Best International Independent Film went to Joaquim Trier’s Sentimental Value. This year, the BIFA Special Jury Prize was presented to Warp Films by Jury members Genevieve O’Reilly and Daniel Mays.
“For nearly 25 years, Warp Films has been the preeminent independent film and TV production company in the UK,” the jury said in a statement.
“Their commitment to telling raw and relevant stories, made by visionary writers and directors, is unflinching and uncompromising. From Dead Man’s Shoes and This Is England to Adolescence and Reunion, they have proved over and over that there is a genuine hunger for stories that tell us the unvarnished truth.”
The inaugural BIFA Cinema of the Year went to The Magic Lantern Cinema in Tywyn, Wales.