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Nov082022

ICYMI - "Aftersun" led the British Independent Film Award Nominations

Tuesday, November 8, 2022 at 9:00PM

by Nathaniel R

"Aftersun" has been a hit with 'indie' awards groups like BIFA and Gotham.

The title here is a bit of a goof. You probably didn't miss the BIFA award nominations on Friday but we did. Apologizes for the delay in reporting them. The BIFAs use juries to come up with their nominations and if those juries like something they go ALL in.... 16 nominations for Aftersun (now playing in select theaters) sounds like a gargantuan amount of nominations and at first glance it lools like it was nominated for every category for which it was eligible. But therunner up Blue Jean, scored 13 nominations so, again, they go all in if they like something. What that means is that there isn't much variation from category to category. For instance Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay are all interchangeable. After the jump some notes on the nominations...

Best British Independent Film

Rosy McEwen in "Blue Jean"

AFTERSUN -Charlotte Wells, Barry Jenkins, Mark Ceryak, Adele Romanski, Amy Jackson
BLUE JEAN -Georgia Oakley, Hélène Sifre
GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE -Sophie Hyde, Katy Brand, Debbie Gray, Adrian Politowski
LIVING -Oliver Hermanus, Kazuo Ishiguro, Stephen Woolley, Elizabeth Karlsen
THE WONDER -Sebastián Lelio, Emma Donoghue, Alice Birch, Juliette Howell, Andrew Lowe, Tessa Ross, Ed Guiney

Blue Jean, the lowest profile of these and the only one we haven't written about here at TFE, will be released by Magnolia in the US at some point. The film is about a closeted teacher and a new student that threatens to out her.

The father/daughter memoir Aftersun, which also led the Gotham Award nominations, has greatly impressed juries thus far. Will more mainstream awards organizations sample it now?

Best Director sponsored by Sky Cinema

OLIVER HERMANUS Living
SOPHIE HYDE Good Luck to you Leo Grande
SEBASTIÁN LELIO The Wonder
GEORGIA OAKLEY Blue Jean
CHARLOTTE WELLS Aftersun

Nice mix of well established directors (Hermanus & Lelio), feature debut discoveries (Oakley & Wells), and a director just inbetween those two poles (Hyde).

Best Screenplay

KATY BRAND - Good Luck to you Leo Grande
KAZUO ISHIGURO- Living
SEBASTIÁN LELIO, ALICE BIRCH, EMMA DONOGHUE- The Wonder
GEORGIA OAKLEY- Blue Jean
CHARLOTTE WELLS- Aftersun

Same nominees for a third category in a row but then we get some new titles. Unfortunately the acting categories do our least favourite thing in that they're all different sizes -- argh!

Best Lead Performance

Cosmo Jarvis in "It Is In Us All"

SALLY HAWKINS The Lost King
COSMO JARVIS It Is in Us All
EMMA MACKEY Emily
ROSY McEWEN Blue Jean
BILL NIGHY Living
FLORENCE PUGH The Wonder
EMILY WATSON God's Creatures
HALA ZEIN Nezouh

It Is In Us All is an Irish drama about a man who is forced to confront his self-destructiveness after a car accident. We love Cosmo Jarvis so this is officially on the radar now. Wolfe Releasing has the distribution rights in the US which usually means there's a queer element.

Nezouh is about a Syrian family deciding to say or leave Damascus as the bombs fall -- Hala Zein plays the daughter in that family.

Best Supporting Performance

Fatma Mohamed in "Flux Gourmet"

ZOEY DEUTCH The Outfit
AISLING FRANCIOSI God's Creatures
LUCY HALLIDAY Blue Jean
KERRIE HAYES Blue Jean
ZAINAB JODA Our River… Our Sky
FATMA MOHAMED Flux Gourmet
PAUL MESCAL God's Creatures
FIONN WHITEHEAD Emily
AIMEE LOU WOOD Living

Some of these titles haven't made it to the US yet (Emily, for instance, is due next year), but others came and went swiftly earlier in the year like The Outfit and Flux Gourmet

Best Joint Lead Performance

McCormack and Thompson in "Good Luck To You Leo Grande"

FRANKIE CORIO, PAUL MESCAL- Aftersun
DARYL McCORMACK, EMMA THOMPSON- Good Luck to you Leo Grande
JESSIE BUCKLEY, RORY KINNEAR- Men
TAMARA LAWRANCE, LETITIA WRIGHT- The Silent Twins

Interesting idea for a category and bless them for not ALSO naming these same people in Lead Actor. Spread the wealth!

Best Ensemble Performance

BLUE JEAN -Ensemble including Rosy McEwen, Kerrie Hayes, Lucy Halliday, Lydia Page, Stacy Abalogun, Farrah Cave, Amy Booth-Steel
EMILY -Ensemble including Amelia Gething, Emma Mackey, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Fionn Whitehead, Alexandra Dowling, Gemma Jones, Adrian Dunbar
FLUX GOURMET -Ensemble including Makis Papadimitriou, Gwendoline Christie, Asa Butterfield, Fatma Mohamed, Ariane Labed, Richard Bremmer
OUR RIVER… OUR SKY -Ensemble including Zainab Joda, Darina Al Joundi, Amed Hashimi, Mahmoud Abo Al Abbas, Basim Hajar, Labwa Arab, Meriam Abbas, Siham Mustafa
THE WONDER -Ensemble including Kíla Lord Cassidy, Florence Pugh, Tom Burke, Toby Jones, Niamh Algar, Elaine Cassidy, Ciarán Hinds, Brían F. O’Byrne, Josie Walker

The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) sponsored by BBC Film

"Medusa Deluxe"

ANDREW CUMMING The Origin
THOMAS HARDIMAN Medusa Deluxe
FRANCES O’CONNOR Emily
GEORGIA OAKLEY Blue Jean
CHARLOTTE WELLS Aftersun

The Origin is a horror film set during the Stone Age and Medusa Deluxe is a murder mystery set during a hairdressing competition.

Breakthrough Producer sponsored by Pinewood and Shepperton Studios

ALEKSANDRA BILIĆ, JENNIFER CORCORAN - Nascondino [Hide & Seek]
PAUL KENNEDY - Nightride [also produced by Jon Silk]
RUPERT MAJENDIE- Brian and Charles
NADIRA MURRAY- Winners [also produced by Paul Welsh]
HÉLÈNE SIFRE- Blue Jean

Breakthrough Performance sponsored by Netflix

FRANKIE CORIO -Aftersun
LEO LONG -I Used to Be Famous
KÍLA LORD CASSIDY -The Wonder
ROSY McEWEN -Blue Jean
SAFIA OAKLEY-GREEN -The Origin

Best Debut Screenwriter sponsored by Film4

SHANE CROWLEY -God's Creatures
DAVID EARL, CHRIS HAYWARD -Brian and Charles
RUTH GREENBERG -The Origin
GEORGIA OAKLEY Blue Jean
CHARLOTTE WELLS Aftersun

Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary

KATHRYN FERGUSON Nothing Compares
VICTORIA FIORE -Nascondino [Hide & Seek]
LEAH GORDON, EDDIE HUTTON MILLS -Kanaval
JONO McLEOD -My Old School
BECKY HUTNER -Fashion Reimagined

The Raindance Discovery Award

ELECTRIC MALADY -Marie Lidén, Aimara Reques
FADIA’S TREE -Sarah Beddington, Susan Simnett
OFF THE RAILS -Peter Day, Grant Keir, Rob Alexander
REBELLION -Elena Sánchez Bellot, Maia Kenworthy, Kat Mansoor
WINNERS -Hassan Nazer, Nadira Murray, Paul Welsh

Best Feature Documentary sponsored by Intermission

MY CHILDHOOD, MY COUNTRY – 20 YEARS IN AFGHANISTAN -Phil Grabsky, Shoaib Sharifi, Amanda Wilkie
MY OLD SCHOOL -Jono McLeod, John Archer, Olivia Lichtenstein
NASCONDINO [HIDE & SEEK] -Victoria Fiore, Jennifer Corcoran, Aleksandra Bilić
NOTHING COMPARES -Kathryn Ferguson, Eleanor Emptage, Michael Mallie
YOUNG PLATO -Neasa Ní Chianáin, Declan McGrath, David Rane

Best British Short Film supported by BFI Network

A FOX IN THE NIGHT -Keeran Anwar Blessie, Benjamin Jacob Smith
HONESTY -Roxy Rezvany, Emily Renée, Elly Camisa
SANDSTORM -Seemab Gul, Abid Aziz Merchant
SCALE -Joseph Pierce, Hélène Mitjavile
TOO ROUGH -Sean Lìonadh, Ross McKenzie, Alfredo Covelli

Best International Independent Film sponsored by Champagne Taittinger

ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED -Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin, Yoni Golijov,
CLOSE -Lukas Dhont, Angelo Tijssens, Michiel Dhont, Dirk Impens
DECISION TO LEAVE -Park Chan-Wook, Chung Seo-Kyung
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE -Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang, Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Mike Larocca
THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD -Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar, Thomas Robsahm

Belgium's Close, which also led the EFA nominations, is going into the first round of Oscar's International Feature Film voting looking pretty strong.

Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society & Spotlight