The winners of the 2023 British Independent Film Awards were announced live from Old Billingsgate, London on Sunday 3rd December 2023, with Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers earning the Best British Independent Film award on a successful night for the relationship drama.

In a ceremony hosted by Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Lolly Adefope, All of Us Strangers took home British Independent Film Awards for Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Music Supervision and Best Editing, with 2023 Oscar nominee Paul Mescal (Aftersun) being named the joint winner for Best Supporting Performance for his part in the film.

Justine Triet’s 2023 Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall was awarded the title of Best International Independent Film, earning the accolade over competing titles Fallen Leaves, Fremont, Monster and Past Lives.

Mia McKenna-Bruce won the award for Best Lead Performance for her part in How to Have Sex, with casting director Isabella Odoffin also earning an accolade for Best Casting.

The full list of 2023 British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs):

Best British Independent Film – All of Us Strangers
Femme
How to Have Sex
Rye Lane
Scrapper

Best International Independent Film sponsored by Champagne Taittinger – Anatomy of a Fall
Fallen Leaves
Fremont
Monster
Past Lives

Best Director sponsored by Sky Cinema – Andrew Haigh (All of Us Strangers)
Raine Allen-Miller (Rye Lane)
Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Femme)
Molly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex)
Charlotte Regan (Scrapper)

Best Screenplay sponsored by Apple Original Films – Andrew Haigh (All of Us Strangers)
Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia (Rye Lane)
Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Femme)
Molly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex)
Charlotte Regan (Scrapper)

Best Lead Performance – Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex)
Jodie Comer (The End We Start From)
Tia Nomore (Earth Mama)
Nabhaan Rizwan (In Camera)
Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers)
Tilda Swinton (The Eternal Daughter)

Best Supporting Performance – Paul Mescal (All of Us Strangers)
Ritu Arya (Polite Society)
Jamie Bell (All of Us Strangers)
Samuel Bottomley (How to Have Sex)
Alexandra Burke (Pretty Red Dress)
Amir El-Masry (In Camera)
Clair Foy (All of Us Strangers)
Alia Shawkat (Drift)
Shaun Thomas (How to Have Sex)
Katherine Waterston (The End We Start From)

Best Joint Lead Performance – Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, George MacKay (Femme)
Lola Campbell, Harris Dickinson (Scrapper)
David Jonsson, Vivian Oparah (Rye Lane)

The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) sponsored by BBC Film – Savanah Leaf (Earth Mama)
Raine Allen-Miller (Rye Lane)
Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Femme)
Holly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex)
Charlotte Regan (Scrapper)

Breakthrough Producer sponsored by Pinewood and Shepperton Studios – Theo Barrowclough (Scrapper)
Georgia Goggin (Pretty Red Dress)
Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo (Rye Lane)
Gannesh Rajah (If the Streets Were on Fire)
Chi Thai (Raging Grace)

Breakthrough Performance sponsored by Netflix – Vivian Oparah (Rye Lane)
Le’Shantey Bonsu (Girl)
Lola Campbell (Scrapper)
Priya Kansara (Polite Society)
Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex)

Best Debut Screenwriter sponsored by Film4 – Nida Manzoor (Polite Society)
Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia (Rye Lane)
Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Femme)
Molly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex)
Charlotte Regan (Scrapper)

Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary – Chloe Abrahams (The Taste of Mango)
Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn (Another Baby)
Ella Glendining (Is There Anybody Out There?)
Alice Russell (If the Streets Were on Fire)
Christopher Sharp (Bobi Wine: The People’s President)

The Raindance Maverick Award – If the Streets Were on Fire
Is There Anybody Out There?
Name Me Lawand
Raging Grace
Red Herring

Best Feature Documentary sponsored by Intermission Film – If the Streets Were on Fire
Another Body
Bobi Wine: The People’s President
Lyra
Occupied City

Best British Short Film – Festival of Slaps
Christopher At Sea
Lions
Muna
The Talent

Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society & Spotlight – Isabella Odoffin (How to Have Sex) 
Shaheen Baig (Scrapper)
Kharmel Cochrane (Rye Lane)
Kahleen Crawford (All of Us Strangers)
Salome Oggenfuss, Geraldine Barón, Abby Harri (Earth Mama)

Best Cinematography sponsored by Harbor & Kodak – Jamie D. Ramsay (All of Us Strangers)
Olan Collardy (Rye Lane)
Suzie Lavelle (The End We Start From)
Molly Manning Walker (Scrapper)
James Rhodes (Femme)

Best Costume Design – Buki Ebiesuwa (Femme)
George Buxton (How to Have Sex)
Oliver Cronk (Scrapper)
Cynthia Lawrence-John (Rye Lane)
PC Williams (The End We Start From)

Best Editing – Jonathan Alberts (All of Us Strangers) 
Victoria Boydell (Rye Lane)
Paul Carlin (Bobi Wine: The People’s President)
Avdhesh Mohla (High & Low – John Galliano)
Arttu Salmi (The End We Start From)

Best Effects – Jonathan Gales, Richard Baker (The Kitchen)
Paddy Eason (Polite Society)
Theodor Flo-Groeneboom (The End We Start From)

Best Music Supervision – Connie Farr (All of Us Strangers)
Ciara Elwis (Femme)
David Fish (Rye Lane)

Best Make-Up & Hair Design sponsored by The Wall Group – Marie Deehan (Femme)
Zoe Clare Brown (All of Us Strangers)
Claire Carter (Polite Society)
Natasha Lawes (How to Have Sex)
Bianca Simone Scott (Rye Lane)

Best Original Music sponsored by Universal Music Publishing Group – Kwes (Rye Lane)
Adam Janota Bzowski (Femme)
Patrick Jonsson (Scrapper)
Anna Meredith (The End We Start From)
Ré Olunuga (Girl)

Best Production Design sponsored by ATC & Broadsword – Nathan Parker (The Kitchen)
Laura Ellis Cricks (The End We Start From)
Sarah Finlay (All of Us Strangers)
Elena Muntoni (Scrapper)
Anna Rhodes (Rye Lane)

Best Sound supported by Halo – Mark Jenkin (Enys Men)
Scrapper
How to Have Sex
All of Us Strangers
The End We Start From

Per BIFA.

Femme (2023)
Directors: Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping
Screenwriters: Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping
Starring: Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, George MacKay

Joining the ever-growing list of short films that were adapted into feature length movies is Femme, the feature length directorial debut of directing duo Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping. Taking an original concept from a short eighteen minutes and stretching it out to over an hour is a difficult task that many fail to complete effectively, but Freeman and Ping succeed.

The film follows Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), a drag queen who suffers a horrifying homophobic attack at the hands of Preston (George MacKay) after one of his shows. It tells of the sexual relationship that begins months down the line once Jules has recovered and is no longer in his drag makeup.

Speaking after the UK premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), director Sam H. Freeman discussed the idea of trauma and the way in which our minds can take traumatic events and turn them into a form of pleasure as a defence mechanism; taking something that hurt us and that we had no control over and turning it into something we get some form of joy out of and can thus have agency over. It is this very idea that Femme focuses on, and is the line it constantly walks throughout the film. In walking this line, Femme highlights its strengths: the writing, the direction and the performances.

The writing is a particular strength of the film. It shows a great understanding of trauma and a deep knowledge of the human psyche. In portraying the attack that Jules undergoes at the hands of Preston at the beginning of the film in such a horrific way, it is daring to place Jules back in the presence of Preston, and this allows the tension of the piece to build throughout. We are constantly wondering, “will Preston remember Jules? Will Jules get his revenge? Will something else blossom between the two?” By placing Jules and Preston into such an intimate situation together, Femme has us worried about what Preston will do but also intrigued by the dynamic that exists between them.

This relationship would not work if it were not for the two fantastic performances at the head of the film by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George MacKay. The writing certainly elevates their performances and provides them both with layers of character background and history, though their individual contributions equally elevate the material.

We see Jules in numerous situations with various different casts of characters and their own individual consequences, whether that be on stage and in drag, with Preston, or with Preston’s friends. We see Nathan Stewart-Jarrett perform different “characters” or “personalities” in each given situation, just as Jules would perform differently in his normal day-to-day life compared to his time on stage as a drag queen. And Stewart-Jarrett himself claimed that these different sides of Jules are signs of his past.

When Jules is around Preston’s friends he appears as a more traditional lad, fitting in with the group of hypermasculine men, which could be considered a sign of the character’s upbringing before he felt comfortable enough as a queer man. It is in these different masks, and through playing these different characters, that Stewart-Jarrett shines, showing not only an understanding of his lead protagonist but a depth with regard to his performance. 

MacKay, too, brings a fantastic performance to the table, transforming himself physically from the vulnerability exuded in the likes of Pride (2014) into an intimidating and dangerous man, a character who looks like a typical street thug but whom we soon realise is much more than that. Just as Jules plays multiple characters, so does MacKay’s Preston, the two practically their own unique versions of Clark Kent and Superman. The beauty of the writing is that Jules discovers this as we do.

It is in the chemistry between Stewart-Jarrett and MacKay, and particularly the scenes in which they share the spotlight, that the two actors really shine. They bounce off each other incredibly well and their individual performances work to emphasise the power dynamic and the tension that is written in the script. One of the best examples of this is an early date scene in which Preston takes Jules to a fancy restaurant and exhibits his more gentle, charming side; that which he clearly hides from his friends. Jules appears small in the frame, closed off and taking very little space at the table, whereas Preston appears larger than life, stretched out over his seat and his body open, taking up much more space and showing his power not just in that moment but in their dynamic overall. It is a scene in which script, direction, cinematography and performance come together to best serve the story.

This is one of many moments in which the first-time filmmakers behind Femme prove their understanding of the process and their ability to bring their idea to life. As a directorial duo, Freeman and Ping impress with their skill, bringing style to the film via neon lighting and brightly coloured clothing, wonderful imagery that uses juxtaposition to tell of the pleasure and trauma that are so prominent throughout the story, and directing wonderfully detailed lead performances that anchor the emotion held within the script. Femme is a wonderful film that is just as fun as it is horrific; an intriguing mix of trauma and pleasure.

2023 feature directorial debut Femme is a tightly packed punch of a film from two new directors expressing their boundless potential. Though some may find it difficult to see someone’s attacker placed in a position of both power and intimacy with the person they’ve attacked, those that can bear the more hard to watch scenes are in for a treat of a film that dives deep into human relationships and treats us to a great first feature.

Score: 18/24

Recommended for you: More Coverage from EIFF

Across just 122 minutes, Matthew Warchus’ film manages to explore the miners’ strike, the gay liberation movement, and the beginning of the AIDS crisis.

Pride is based on the true story of LGSM (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners), and the group’s relationship with a small Welsh mining town. LGSM was set up in 1984 by Mark Ashton‎ (played here by Ben Schnetzer) and Mike Jackson (Joseph Gilgun), and raised £22,500 for striking miners. Pride is the story of the wholesome meeting of two different worlds.

Below, in this Movie List from The Film Magazine, are 5 reasons why Pride is one of the best films of the 21st Century. Spoilers ahead.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter to make sure you never miss another list like this one.

1. The Blending of Political Agendas

“I support you whoever you are, hand to hand, shoulder to shoulder, as it should be.”

Pride is unashamedly political, and carefully combines two previously unrelated groups – striking miners, and gay and lesbian activists.

The film does not focus too much on negativity, but makes it clear that it is not shying away from the realities of life for marginalised groups. We see Gethin (Andrew Scott) cleaning graffiti from the front window of his bookshop “Gay’s the Word”, as well as the material realities of striking for the miners, such as Dai (Paddy Considine) having his gas and electricity cut off.

Although Mark’s (Ben Schnetzer’s) politics are watered down for the film – he was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (a moment touched upon in a bar scene when someone shouts “commie” at him) – Pride has politics at its core; it’s difficult to watch this film and not feel genuine sympathy for the plight of its characters, each being oppressed by forces in government and wider society.

2. A Great Coming Out Scene

A conversation takes place between Cliff (Bill Nighy) and Hefina (Imelda Staunton) as they make sandwiches for the miners. Hefina is telling Cliff off for the indelicate way he is cutting the sandwich. After a few silent moments, Cliff simply says “I’m gay”, to which Hefina replies, “I know”.

You can sense Cliff’s relief at finally being able to say this out loud. He’s a quiet and reserved character, and it brings such joy to finally see Cliff moving someway towards accepting his true self.

This is a sensitive moment, delicately shot. Hefina tells Cliff she has known since 1968, and carries on buttering the bread. As far as coming out scenes go, this is one of the best in cinema, as it is perfect for the journey that we have seen this character go on.

Without the need for fanfare or a parade, Cliff is shown acceptance and love by Hefina. Other coming out scenes should take note.

In an effort to counterbalance the negativity attached to films about the community, we have compiled a list of 5 British and Irish films that show LGBTQ+ people as (shock horror) real people!

Can you believe that we have actual lives that don’t constantly revolve around pain and suffering? Who knew, right? 

As always, we encourage you to join the conversation. So, think we missed off a great, positive LGBTQ+ British or Irish film? Let us know about it in the comments or tweet us. 

Warning: there may be spoilers ahead…

1. Pride (2014)

Pride (2014) is the true story of an organisation named Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM), as told through the fictional Joe “Bromley” Cooper played by 2020’s star on the rise George Mackay (1917; The True History of the Kelly Gang).

LGSM was set up in 1984 by Mark Ashton‎ and Mike Jackson, and raised £22,500 for striking miners. If this hadn’t been a real event, the relationship between the two polarising yet relatably marginalised groups might have felt a little forced, where in the film they first give the money to a Welsh mining town, making for a wholesome meeting of two different worlds.

The members of the small Welsh mining town have questions for LGSM, such as the memorable ‘Is it true that all lesbians are vegetarians?’ It is this comic relief that breaks down the barriers between the two groups and first indicates this film’s wholesome core. Ultimately, everyone is united by a song and dance, turning Pride away from a lot of the negative tropes associated with LGBTQ+ cinema. Sure, a film set during the 1984 Miner’s Strike isn’t going to be all joy, but Pride does not dwell on the pain of the era but rather celebrates its sense of community and togetherness.

One key uplifting fact is that Dominic West’s character Jonathan Blake was the 2nd person in the UK to be diagnosed with HIV, and he is still alive and dancing to this day.

2. Dating Amber (2020)

Dating Amber has been described as ‘Derry Girls’ meets ‘Sex Education’.

Set in Ireland in 1995, Eddie and Amber are both in the closet and decide to counter claims about their sexuality by faking a heterosexual relationship with each other until they leave school. Eddie wants to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the army, whereas Amber is going to move to London and open “an anarchist bookshop with franchise potential”.

Dating Amber is a sweet coming of age film with witty lines and without the typical corny storylines. The film features an amazing Irish cast, including Sharon Horgan, Fionn O’Shea (making his first of two appearances on our list) and Lola Petticrew. Petticrew is the highlight of the piece; she is so charming that it’s joyful to watch her depiction of a happy and confident baby lesbian. The film is not perfect, but it is a refreshing addition to the coming of age genre.

Recommended for you: Out (2020) Pixar Short Film Review

1917 (2020)
Director: Sam Mendes
Screenwriters: Sam Mendes, Krysty Wilson-Cairns
Starring: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Colin Firth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden

It is a truth generally accepted that the First World War was a cruel, wasteful and ultimately pointless conflict. Never before nor since have so many lives been needlessly thrown away. We should of course honour and respect the fallen but hope against hope that history is not repeated. That might be why there are relatively few WWI films compared to those dramatising WWII, which is far easier to moralise and delineate. New Sam Mendes film 1917 therefore had a difficult balance to strike.

April 1917 and Lance Corporals Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) and Schofield (George MacKay) are given a dangerous mission to travel through enemy territory and deliver an order to stop two divisions of British soldiers from attacking German lines. The Germans have seemingly fallen back, but are reinforced, well-equpped and ready to spring a trap that will wipe out the 1,600 British attackers.

Sam Mendes doesn’t tend to write the films he directs himself, but it’s only right that he co-penned (with Krysty Wilson-Cairns) this most personal of stories. Inspired by the experiences of his grandfather Alfred H Mendes during the war, we bear witness to the experiences of millions of soldiers who fought in the Great War as our two protagonists thread their way through networks of grim trenches and across exposed, shelled battlefields (strewn with bodies) towards their distant objective. Every soldier we see in passing would have their own story to tell and little details to be found in the production design and performances of the background players offer the merest hint of where they came from, who they joined up with and whether they still have any fight in them after three years of ceaseless conflict.

The film is in the unfortunate position of having to follow Peter Jackson’s already-definitive 2018 WWI documentary They Shall Not Grow Old. No matter how well you bring this passage of history back to life, it will never feel as authentic as that collage of real words and images. 1917 is very different in style to something like Saving Private Ryan which, effective as it was, put you in the boots of a soldier then repeatedly bludgeoned you with editing and shakycam. The whole thesis here is to present a certain kind of reality without artifice; performances, camerawork and editing aiming to make the experience seamless, a heightened reality. From an extended Paths of Glory-influenced opening track through the trenches, we never leave the sides of the pair of soldiers given a daunting mission, but we are kept at arms length as a passive observer.

Roger Deakins is the only cinematographer the average moviegoer could reliably name, and there’s very good reason for that. He’s done great and game-changing work with Mendes, the Coen Brothers and Denis Villeneuve for decades. 1917 could very well be the road to his second Oscar. In terms of the camerawork, the first half of the film is pretty low-key, working in tandem with editor Lee Smith to keep the illusion of a continuous shot alive, but then we get the none-more-Deakins Expressionist scene set in a ruined town. As Schofield sprints through collapsed buildings and rubble-strewn streets, avoiding enemy soldiers and dodging gunfire as he goes, what’s left of civilisation around him is vividly backlit by the fires of war making the frame look like a particularly dramatic war artist’s painting.

There are little moments of beauty among the horror aside from the gorgeous way Deakins frames everything – blossom floating across battlefields and corpse-littered rivers, a tender song delivered to a gathering of nervy soldiers waiting to go over the top.

It’s strange how few war films actually feature dead bodies. You usually see many, many people shot or dying on screen but then they’re miraculously out of site, never cluttering the frame. 1917 keeps the signs of death front-and-centre, from the horse corpses shrouded by flies in No Man’s Land to the river dam of the dead that an exhausted Schofield has to negotiate as he barely clings to his own life.

The appearance of the big named actors is admittedly pretty distracting. Andrew Scott gets a good little role, standing in for what must have been many tired and disillusioned officers in the latter stages of the Great War, a man who doesn’t bat an eye at two more young men on a possible suicide mission but implores them to throw their flair guns back to their trench for reuse if they think they’re about to go down. Elsewhere you’re not thinking another senior military figure is making an appearance key to the plot but that Colin Firth or Mark Strong or Benedict Cumberbatch are gunning for a major acting award with even less screentime than Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love. That said, there is no taking away what a burden George MacKay shoulders with his naturalistic performance, carrying so much of the story, the suffering of so many brave men single-handedly.

Thomas Newman’s unobtrusive score underpins the whole thing and gives it lifeblood. Often it’s a stripped back piano theme that’s at once sombre and eerie – perfect for telling a story of war. But then, as the film moves into its final, chaotic and nerve-shredding stretch we get a more grand, more orchestral theme that makes you pray the mission will succeed so no more men have to die.

1917 may not be a revolutionary new take on the war film, it may occasionally embellish for the sake of drama or cheat on its one-shot gimmick, but with technical dazzle and no-nonsense characterisation it becomes a pretty fine example nonetheless.

20/24

Oscar winner Colin Firth leads the list of new additions, with fellow Oscar nominee Benedict Cumberbatch, BAFTA TV nominee Mark Strong and Golden Globe TV Best Actor nominee Richard Madden set to join him.

Left to right: Colin Firth (Mary Poppins Returns), Benedict Cumberbatch (Avengers: Infinity War), Mark Strong (Kingsman II: The Secret Service), Richard Madden (‘The Bodyguard’).

Beginning principle photography as early as next week in its central locations of England and Scotland, 1917 will tell the tale of a number of soldiers across a single day during World War I, and will shoot from a script written by Mendes and his writing partner Krysty Wilson-Cairns.

Though their roles are yet to be revealed, Firth, Cumberbatch, Strong and Madden will be a part of the movie set to be headlined by the previously announced George MacKay (Pride; Captain Fantastic) and Dean-Charles Chapman (‘Game of Thrones’). Andrew Scott (‘Sherlock’), Daniel Mays (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; Dad’s Army), Adrian Scarborough, Jamie Parker, Nabhaan Rizwan and Claire Duburcq have also been cast.

The movie is being brought to the big screen by Dreamworks and Universal Pictures, with Mendes’ label Neal Street Productions producing the project with Jayne-Ann Tenggren, Callum McDougall and Michael Lerman.

The picture is due for release on 25th December 2019.

Source: THR

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