The Edinburgh International Film Festival yesterday announced the winners in the twelve competition categories for both feature and short films.
The awards were presented by EIFF Artistic Director Hannah McGill, Deputy Artistic Director Diane Henderson and Patrons Sir Sean Connery and Seamus McGarvey on the closing day of the Festival at a public ceremony in Filmhouse. This year’s winners are:
Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film, sponsored by the UK Film Council
Moon - Directed by Duncan Jones
PPG Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film
Katie Jarvis - Fish Tank
Best New International Feature Award
Easier With Practice Directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez
Standard Life Audience Award
The Secret of Kells - Directed by Tomm Moore
Best Documentary Award
Boris Ryzhy - Directed by Aliona Van der Horst
Skillset New Directors Award
Cary Joji Fukunaga - Sin Nombre
The Rotten Tomatoes Critical Consensus Award
Humpday - Directed by Lynn Shelton
UK Film Council Award for Best British Short Film
After Tomorrow - Directed by Emma Sullivan
Best International Short Film Award
Princess Margaret BLD. - Directed by Kazik Radwanski
Scottish Short Documentary Award supported by Baillie Gifford
Peter in Radioland - Directed by Johanna Wagner
McLaren Award for New British Animation in partnership with BBC Film Network
Photograph of Jesus - Directed by Laurie Hill
This year’s Michael Powell Jury were director Joe Wright (Atonement) who presided over the five-strong Jury: film critic Claudia Puig; acclaimed actress Sacha Horler (My Year Without Sex); journalist and author Janet Street-Porter and Academy Award® Best Actor nominee Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon).
The Jury citation read: "We award Moon for its singular vision and remarkably assured direction as well as for the inspired manner in which it transcends genre. The central performance by Sam Rockwell embodies the film’s emotional complexity and compelling philosophical perspective."
On awarding Katie Jarvis the PPG Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film, the Jury cited: "We award Katie Jarvis’ performance in Fish Tank for her portrayal of obsessive first love and visceral alienation. The moral ambiguity is illuminated by this extraordinary debut."
Katie Jarvis commented: "This has been an amazing year for me in more ways than one. I was lucky enough to spend my 18th birthday in Edinburgh last week, where FIsh Tank was shown, and this is such a great 18th present!
"It is a real honour to receive this award, both for myself and the film. I would like to thank Andrea for the opportunity and for believing in me."
John Woodward, Chief Executive Officer of the UK Film Council, sponsor of the award, added: "The UK Film Council’s support of the EIFF underlines our deep commitment to celebrating and nurturing film talent.
"Winning the Michael Powell Award confirms Duncan Jones as an emerging British director with a very bright future. And I’m delighted for Emma Sullivan, awarded the short film prize for After Tomorrow, and newcomer Katie Jarvis, winner of the best performance prize for Fish Tank, both of whose films were funded through the Film Council’s New Cinema Fund."
The inaugural Best New International Feature Award was deliberated by an international Jury of three: actor/director Alan Cumming, author Lee Marshall and actor Kerry Fox. The Jury citation read: "Easier With Practice is an astonishingly assured writing and directing debut, distinguished by a gift for original storytelling, a striking visual aesthetic, and a series of powerfully revealing and truthful performances."
EIFF Artistic Director, Hannah McGill said: "I’m delighted by these results and I thank our juries for their hard work and their presence in Edinburgh, which helped to make this year’s Festival so exciting.
"It says a lot about EIFF and its mission as a discovery festival that Duncan Jones, Kyle Patrick Alvarez, Tomm Moore and Cary Joji Fukunaga are all first-time feature directors. We have had a fantastic year and I’m thrilled that all of our prizewinners have been part of it, as well as, of course, all the other filmmakers who’ve attended and given us the privilege of screening their work.
"I hope their success here helps them go forward in their careers, and I hope we’ll see them all back in Edinburgh in the future with further work."
The Documentary Jury citation read: "For a visually stunning, imaginative, sensitive and ultimately revealing portrait of both an individual psyche and a national predicament, the jury unanimously award the Best Feature Documentary Award to Aliona Van der Horst for her film Boris Ryzhy."
Commenting on the Skillset New Director’s Award winner, Neil Peplow Skillset’s Director of Film, said: "I am delighted that Skillset has been able to once again support the New Directors’ Award at EIFF. Sin Nombre is a work of staggering achievement.
"It is a highly ambitious and accomplished film, let alone as a first feature. Cary has shown himself a future talent to reckon with, and completely deserves this award. I hope it goes some way to helping him get his next features produced and distributed, and I look forward to seeing his career flourish."
Tagged in Edinburgh International Film Festival Moon