BIFA loves "Wild Rose" and "David Copperfield"

British Independent Film Awards, or BIFA for short, have announced their nominations for the 2019 film year. Like the Gothams and Spirits they are juried which means a small group of people decide various categories before the entire membership votes on the winners. Strangely, despite that they focused on a small pool of films (the leaders, Wild Rose and The Personal History of David Copperfield have a staggering 21 nominations between them. Yikes! 

Our friend and sometimes Smackdown guest Guy Lodge was on the panel this year and here are their choices.

Best British Independent Film

• Bait, Mark Jenkin, Kate Byers, Linn Waite

• For Sama, Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts

• The Personal History Of David Copperfield, Armando Iannucci, Simon Blackwell, Kevin Loader The Souvenir Joanna Hogg, Luke Schiller

• The Souvenir, Joanna Hogg, Luke Schiller

• Wild Rose, Tom Harper, Nicole Taylor, Faye Ward

Bait and David Copperfield have not yet arrived stateside. The latter is coming in 2020 and with lots of name actors it will get some attention (plus it's quite funny) but we had to look up Bait to see what it was. We must keep an eye out due to the BIFA love...

Best Director

For Sama

• Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts, For Sama [INTERVIEW / REVIEW]

• Oliver Hermanus, Moffie

• Joanna Hogg, The Souvenir [REVIEW]

• Mark Jenkin, Bait

• Asif Kapadia, Diego Maradona [REVIEW]

Diego Maradona is currently on HBO here in the US.

Best Actress

animals

• Jessie Buckley, Wild Rose [SOUNDTRACKING]

• Holliday Grainger, Animals

• Sally Hawkins, Eternal Beauty

• Vicky Knight, Dirty God

• Renee Zellweger, Judy [PODCAST]

Vicky Knight was recently chosen as one of the “Breakthrough Brits” by BAFTA, which is an initiative honoring people in the arts from crafstpeople to gaming designers to actors. Renee’s Judy was a given but this is a nice honor for Buckley who really was strong in Wild Rose. This is the first we’re hearing of a new Sally Hawkins movie. Give it to our eyeballs NOW.

We haven't yet seen Animals but we've loved Holliday Grainger in a few things now and we know our own contributor Abe will be happy about this since he raved about her at Sundance. 

Best Supporting Actress

• Jessica Barden, Scarborough

• Ruthxjiah Bellenea, The Last Tree

• Elizabeth Debicki, Vita & Virginia [REVIEW]

• Tilda Swinton, The Personal History Of David Copperfield

• Julie Walters, Wild Rose

Hmmmm. Not sure how Debicki is supporting in a drama about the romance between Vita and Virginia (since she plays Virginia). It's true she takes a little bit of the running time to show up but she's so dominant once she does that this feels like egregious category fraud. Tilda is hilarious in David Copperfield with a powerhouse entrance scene.

Best Screenplay

• Joanna Hogg, The Souvenir

• Armando Iannucci, Simon Blackwell, The Personal History Of David Copperfield

• Paul Laverty, Sorry We Missed You

• Peter Strickland, In Fabric [REVIEW]

• Nicole Taylor, Wild Rose

Lots of love for The Souvenir and David Copperfield with this awards group. We feel like we’ve been hearing about In Fabric for two years now but it still hasn’t had US release.

Best Actor

• Sam Adewunmi, The Last Tree

• Tom Burke, The Souvenir

• Kris Hitchen, Sorry We Missed You

• Josh O’Connor, Only You

• Dev Patel, The Personal History Of David Copperfield

We're becoming real fans of O'Connor who has been strong in everything we've seen him in to date. Only You is a romantic drama about a young couple.

Best Supporting Actor

• Chiwetel Ejiofor, The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

• Hugh Laurie, The Personal History Of David Copperfield

• Edlison Manuel Olbera Núñez, Yuli – The Carlos Acosta Story

• Peter Mullan, The Vanishing

• Bluey Robinson, Dirty God

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is on Netflix and is also submitted for the International Feature Oscar race this year.

The Douglas Hickox Award (Debut Director)

• Will Becher, Richard Phelan, A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

• Fyzal Boulifa, Lynn + Lucy

• Ninian Doff, Boyz In The Wood

• Chiwetel Ejiofor, The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

• Harry Wootliff, Only You

One mystery of the Oscar season: Why is A Shaun the Sheep sequel not in the longlist the Academy released for Best Animated Feature this year. Why would its company not submit it when the original went all the way to a nomination in that category?

Debut Screenwriter

• Kieran Hurley, Beats

• Lisa Owens, Days Of The Bagnold Summer

• Nicole Taylor, Wild Rose

• Emma Jane Unsworth, Animals

• Harry Wootliff, Only You

Best Documentary

• Coup 53, Taghi Amirani, Walter Murch, Paul Zaentz

• Diego Maradona, Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees, Paul Martin

• For Sama, Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts

• Seahorse, Jeanie Finlay, Andrea Cornwell

• Tell Me Who I Am, Ed Perkins, Simon Chinn

I saw Seahorse at the Austin gay and lesbian film festival earlier this year. That doc is about a pregnant trans man’s journey to fatherhood. It was my second choice for the top prize in the doc jury I served on for the festival. (The award went, unanimously, to a drama about trans athletes in high school sports called Changing the Game, but keep an eye out for both titles)

Breakthrough Producer

• Finn Bruce, Tucked

• Kate Byers, Linn Waite, Bait

• Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor, Blue Story [Also Produced By Damian Jones]

• Becky Read, Three Identical Strangers [Also Produced By Grace Hughes-Hallett]

• Jack Sidey, Moffie [Also Produced By Eric Abraham]

Apparently Three Identical Strangers took a bit to cross the Ocean as its nominated for 2019.

Most Promising Newcomer

• Sam Adewumni, The Last Tree

• Vicky Knight, Dirty God

• Lorn Macdonald, Beats

• Roxanne Scrimshaw, Lynn + Lucy

• Honor Swinton Byrne, The Souvenir

The Discovery Award

• A Bump Along The Way, Shelly Love

• Children Of The Snow Land, Zara Balfour, Marcus Stephenson, Mark Hakansson

• Here For Life, Andrea Luka Zimmerman, Adrian Jackson, James Lingwood, Michael Morris, Cressida Day

• Muscle, Gerard Johnson, Matthew James Wilkinson, Richard Wylie, Ed Barratt

• The Street, Zed Nelson

Best British Short Film

• Anna, Dekel Berenson, Merlin Merton, Olga Beskhmelnitsyna

• Boiling Point, Philip Barantini, Bart Ruspoli, James Cummings, Gabriella Callea, Grace Nelder

• The Devil’s Harmony, Dylan Holmes Williams, Jess O’kane, Nathan Craig

• Goldfish, Hector Dockrill, Laura Dockrill, Benedict Turnbull, Harri Kamalanathan

• Serious Tingz, Abdou Cissé, Kieran Kenlock, Matt Ellingham

I’ll be interesting to see if any of these compete at the Oscars this year -- now that Oscar has stopped releasing the long list of qualified shorts (sigh) we can only guess as to whether or not they’re in the running.

Best International Independent Film

• Ash Is Purest White - China [INTERVIEW]

• Marriage Story - US [REVIEW]

• Monos - Colombia [LFF WINNER]

• Parasite - South Korea [PODCAST]

• Portrait Of A Lady On Fire - France [BEST OF TIFF]

WOWZA. WHAT A CATEGORY

Best Casting

• Shaheen Baig, In Fabric

• Shaheen Baig, Aisha Bywaters, The Last Tree

• Kahleen Crawford, Caroline Stewart, Only You

• Kahleen Crawford, Wild Rose

• Sarah Crowe, The Personal History Of David Copperfield

Best Costume Design

• Suzie Harman, Robert Worley, The Personal History Of David Copperfield

• Anna Mary Scott Robbins, Wild Rose

• Grace Snell, The Souvenir

• Jany Temime, Judy [RELATED FYC]

• Jo Thompson, In Fabric

Without knowing a list of eligible titles we can’t tell if these were the best choices but we do like those Judy costumes. 

Best Cinematography

• Ole Bratt Birkeland, Judy

• Benjamin Kracun, Beats

• Zac Nicholson, The Personal History Of David Copperfield

• Jamie D Ramsay, Moffie

• Ari Wegner, In Fabric

Hmmm. Cant say that we could have seen these honors coming for Judy or David Copperfield.

Best Editing

• Mick Audsley, Peter Lambert, The Personal History Of David Copperfield

• Mark Jenkin, Bait

• Chris King, Diego Maradona

• Chloe Lambourne, Simon Mcmahon, For Sama

• Helle Le Fevre, The Souvenir

Best Effects

• Howard Jones, A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon

• Paul Mann, In Fabric

• Andy Quinn, The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

Best Make Up & Hair Design

• Morten Jacobsen, Rogier Samuels, Lindelotte Van Der Meer, Dirty God

• Karen Hartley-Thomas, The Personal History Of David Copperfield

• Emma Scott, In Fabric

• Jody Williams, Wild Rose

• Jeremy Woodhead, Judy

Best Music

• Jack Arnold, Wild Rose

• Cavern Of Anti-Matter, In Fabric

• Nainita Desai, For Sama

• Antonio Pinto, Diego Maradona

• Jd Twitch, Penelope Trappes, Stephen Hindman, Beats

Best Production Design

• Cristina Casali, The Personal History Of David Copperfield

• Stéphane Collonge, The Souvenir

• Kave Quinn, Judy

• Anne Seibel, The White Crow

• Paki Smith, In Fabric

Loved the production design of David Copperfield so we’re here for that nomination. Also nice to see The White Crow show up here but why not in Costumes?

Best Sound

• Anna My Bertmark, Jonathan Seale, Jules Woods, Gwen

• David Bowtle-Mcmillan, Joakim Sundström, Robert Farr, Beats

• Stephen Griffiths, Tim Cavagin, Max Walsh, Andy Shelley, Diego Maradona

• Lee Walpole, Colin Nicholson, Stuart Hilliker, Wild Rose

• Martin Pavey, In Fabric

The sound of Wild Rose lovingly delivers us astonishing vocals from Jessie Buckley for which we must thank it.

Comments

[Mirko]

Bifa are the real Bafta now, at least since Bafta became an Oscar precursor

[JW]

The Souvenir is my movie this year that everyone loves and I do not. Was so excited to see it and excited to hear who is in the sequel but had to turn it off after 45 minutes. Could not suffer through those characters. Maybe I was in more of an upbeat mood at the time. Who knows. Though I saw Murtada (I believe) didn’t like it either so not alone on my tiny island.

[Peggy Sue]

This list is going to be so refreshing in a few weeks when American critics start rewarding the same movies over and over again.

[Owl]

I'm here for Peter Strickland's In Fabric! What a doozy of a film, not just for the genre (giallo) it is paying hommage to but just for the WTFery of the whole filmic enterprise. This mode of cinematic storytelling is almost like outsider art, and the screenplay, the sound, cinematography were all en sync to the macabre story made even weirder by off-kilter devices such as Fatma Mohamed's flat delivery of lines as though these were taken from socialist manifestos, angry diatribes and pre-Enlightenment instructions; the mix of sex and self-love, of camp and kitsch, and of trash and the sublime -- all bear the imprint of Peter Strickland.

I wish Bifa also acknowledged the solid work of Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Sheila. The low volume, almost whispery way she utilizes when she is pissed is truly effective and hilarious at the same time. Strickland himself said he was thoroughly amused and impressed by the way Jean-Baptiste approached her role.

Also excited to see the new Sally Hawkins film, and Wild Rose and yes, that international film lineup is jaw dropping!

[Miffy]

How funny would you say you found In the Loop and The Death of Stalin? Just so I can put "quite funny" into context.

[NATHANIEL R]

Miffy -- I did not see Death of Stalin but I thought IN THE LOOP was hilarious. Copperfield has some laugh out loud bits but it's mostly funny as in giggles and amused smiles throughout.