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.

Frankly, choosing the ten best films ever made is incredibly difficult. When considering such a list there are endless criteria from which one could choose to base their list off: popularity, originality, box office success, how it did at the Oscars. Really, there is no one single way of creating a definitive list of the greatest movies ever made. Even if I were to only take in my own personal opinion, I know that I would change my mind week to week. After all, I haven’t seen every film ever made, I have a lot of catching up to do; who’s to say I wouldn’t swap out something for Interstellar or Stagecoach when I finally get around to ticking those off the list?

As if that wasn’t bad enough, there is the fear of the backlash I may receive by leaving certain films off the list. I don’t have any John Ford on the list, which means that Steven Spielberg will hate me, and I just know the middle class art students are going to come for me due to the lack of Godard, Truffaut or Varda.

Making a top ten greatest films ever made list is a lot of pressure, something that is not lost on me. All I can do is provide the top ten films which, until this point in my life, have had the most profound effect on me. Those films that I have not stopped thinking about since the day I first saw them, that I have introduced to whomever will let me, and that I have watched and rewatched until my heart’s content over the last twenty-six years. Wish me luck.

Follow me on X (Twitter) – @MarkJurassic

10. Aftersun (2022)

Aftersun Review

The only film on this entire list that was released during my time writing for The Film Magazine. Thus far, only one of two new releases I have given full marks to (alongside Celine Song’s beautiful Past Lives).

Since I first saw Charlotte Wells’ debut feature film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, I have seen it a further three times in the cinema and have both directly and indirectly introduced many to the film. My passion shines brightly for this one.

With Aftersun, Charlotte Wells introduced herself to the world as an immensely talented director whose delicate portrayal of a father-daughter holiday in Turkey plays out like a gentle hand on your shoulder, leading you carefully through the complex relationship between the pair that eleven-year-old Sophie is yet to understand.

Releasing the same year as the wonderful Everything Everywhere All at Once, another film that handles the relationship between a daughter and a parent, Aftersun handles the relationship in a much more natural manner, making use of the finer details of the film to provoke the issues facing the pair, and equally providing two of the years most natural performances from Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio. 

It is a simple film told in a relatively simple way, but one which is filled with layers of subtext that linger on the mind long after the credits have rolled. Frankly, given more time to cement its legacy, the debut feature of Charlotte Wells could find itself much higher on this list.

Aftersun is not only one of the greatest feature film debuts of all time, but could be one of the greatest films of all time.

9. North by Northwest (1959)

Let’s not kid ourselves, this spot is essentially a revolving door for Hitchcock projects, and though the likes of Psycho and Rear Window have not been chosen this go around they most certainly would be any other time. Right now, I do genuinely believe that North by Northwest is the great director’s most impressive achievement.

Coming years before the first James Bond film Dr. No (1962), North by Northwest is incredibly ahead of its time in regard to not only what would come in the form of the Bond series but how action cinema would evolve as a whole.

Cary Grant’s advertising executive Roger Thornhill is no secret agent, though after being thrust into a story of espionage and mistaken identity he proves that he has all the charm, wit and cunning that one would hope for. Given its immortal recognition as an early formulation of the James Bond-style film, Cary Grant more than lives up as an early iteration of that type of character. And of course, Hitchcock more than lives up to the Bond style with sex references and innuendos galore.

Most importantly, however, Hitchcock takes the action scenes needed to make a film of this magnitude work and crafts sequences that are impressive by today’s standards but simply revolutionary for the cinema of the 1950s, ultimately changing the way action movies would be created forever.

Recommended for you: Top 10 Alfred Hitchcock Films

God’s Creatures (2022)
Directors: Saela Davis, Anna Rose Holmer
Screenwriter: Shane Crowley
Starring: Emily Watson, Paul Mescal, Aisling Franciosi

If you’ve been paying attention recently, you might have noted the exceptional film and television work making its way out of the Republic of Ireland. From Oscar nominations for Irish favourites Kerry Condon and Paul Mescal to the major acclaim surrounding the likes of ‘Normal People’ and The Banshees of Inisherin, the output from the country has been nothing short of astounding as of late, both in numbers and in quality. With the support of A24, BBC Films and Screen Ireland, God’s Creatures mostly lives up to such lofty expectations.

Saela Davis and Anna Rose Holmer’s film follows Aileen (Emily Watson), a supervisor at an oyster harvesting factory in a small Irish village, whose world is disrupted by the unannounced return of her son Brian (Paul Mescal), a charming but mysterious young man whose return brings with it more questions than answers. When Aileen’s love for her son leads to her telling a lie on his behalf, it threatens to rip apart the entire community.

God’s Creatures opens with frantic cuts of rushing water and bubbles accompanied by the horrifying sounds of someone drowning, quite literally dropping the audience into the deep end with a lack of context. Soon after, it is revealed that a local fisherman had drowned and though the details of his drowning remain vague it is implied that he met his death thanks to the superstition within the town that fishermen knowing how to swim is bad luck. It sets the tone for the entire film immediately. The outdated ideals of the village threaten to both literally and figuratively drown its inhabitants.

The windswept Irish fishing village that the story finds its setting in is the perfect location to tell this story. It is the type of place that is hard to come by nowadays, a place long left behind by the world of social media and smartphones, a place inhabited by more ghosts than people and where the townspeople would do anything to protect their own secrets; a place where the rot of the wooden boats and the weathered down stone tells the stories of all who live there.

The theme of outdated ideals is presented through both generational trauma as well as the several dividing lines illustrated throughout the film. Not only is the domestic abuse at the hands of fathers and husbands hinted at, but so is the separation of men and women throughout the entire village; men fish and women work at the processing plant, men drink together and women smoke together. Director of Photography Chayse Irvin (Blonde; BlackKklansman) makes pleasant use of this, creating some wonderful shots of the subtle divide that is built into the community.

Directors Saela Davis and Anna Rose Holmer deliver this all through an intentionally slow pace, one that takes us gently from one scene to another. Whilst it can occasionally feel as though the directors spend a little too long building their world and not enough time finessing other areas, there are brilliant moments of tension drawn out to boiling point, and the directorial duo truly make you feel the weight of almost everything that is happening.

The cast truly elevates the material. Paul Mescal brings a deadly charm to his character, though it must be said that he isn’t given anywhere near enough to work with to give the kind of performance we know he can. Emily Watson, on the other hand, is exceptional; she brings an emotional weight to her performance that appropriately anchors the film. Throughout a presentation in which the women of the village must simply fade into the background behind the men, Watson stands out as a powerful force to be reckoned with.

The standout performance comes from Aisling Franciosi in the role of Sarah, arguably the emotional core of the film. Though Franciosi’s character is unable to truly shine until the latter half of the film, she delivers a wonderfully patient performance, packing a punch whilst seemingly doing so little. Franciosi is a natural performer if ever there was one.

Although God’s Creatures has a good launch, it doesn’t quite stick the landing. Cracks begin to appear as Brian is proven to be less involved than first expected, as well as the directors’ issues with prolonging some elements and not others. The key issue comes in the film’s climax. Instead of a ferocious ending, God’s Creatures delivers more of a gentle culmination. Sadly, it seems to be the case that the ending the directors have chosen is underdeveloped, rather than thought-provoking, leaving what could be a powerful moment feeling lacklustre.

God’s Creatures is an impressive first feature for the two directors as a duo, both of whom craft a beautifully shot film that is rich with subtext and brilliant performances. Though the film doesn’t quite pack the final punch that it could have, it is exciting to see the excellent work that Davis and Holmer can create together. It is with this thought that one can’t help but to feel excited for the future of this new directorial partnership.

Score: 16/24

Our society’s growing disparity in wealth and the current era’s consideration of gender dynamics and political power struggles has brought cinema about mental health into the mainstream, some of the year’s greatest films openly exploring depression and issues of the mind in more intricate ways than any English language cinema has for a long time. Our context has also caused a number of films celebrating the heroes of our everyday to come to the fore, many of 2022’s most talked about movies highlighting how life is lived in its smaller moments, even the year’s biggest biopics and most action-filled extravaganzas embracing the importance of being happy with one’s self, being the truest version of one’s self.

Perhaps as a direct response to global lockdowns and all the isolation and fear that came with them, we have also seen films about comradery and relationships dominate much of the year’s best cinema. Excitingly, this grounded purpose has pushed some of the year’s most action-filled blockbuster-type movies directly into the Best Films 2022 discussion, the yearslong struggle of studio blockbusters attempting to infiltrate the annual lists of critically praised films and awards nominees finally over. And still, cinema marches on with more diverse filmmakers making a wider variety of films to be exhibited exclusively on the big screen. This year alone, a Scottish independent film broke the hearts of all who saw it, a young ethnically diverse directorial duo captured our current day conveniences and struggles perhaps better than anyone else, a woman from an underrepresented part of the United Kingdom told a universal tale with timely importance, and another found self-actualisation as a filmmaker with of all things a sequel.

Cinema is evolving away from its shared experience roots and towards a more individual, brand-specific type of consumerism, but the quality of filmmaking remains so outstanding from so many – so truthful and hearty and filled with purpose. In this Movie List from The Film Magazine, I will present to you the films that best captured our current moment, that delved most deeply into their subject, that enhanced and evolved the form beyond what it had ever been before, and achieved things artistically that should be remembered for decades. These are the 10 Best Films 2022.

Follow me @JoeTFM on Twitter.

10. Elvis

Elvis Review

Far more than a regular biopic of a famed figure, Baz Luhrmann’s best-ever film Elvis reached into the heart of what made rock ‘n’ roll superstar Elvis Presley so beloved and for a few hours invited everyone to experience it. It was the film of the year in terms of sheer sex appeal, Austin Butler being unrecognisable and absolutely terrific in his presentation of the King, and Luhrmann managing even more so to orchestrate the circumstances necessary to truly feel the grasp of one of popular culture’s most significant and recognisable figures.

Luhrmann’s authorial approach was one dripping with passion, and he highlighted the year-topping costume design and some of the best lighting around through perhaps the best example of rhythmic filmmaking to enter the mainstream in 2022. It wasn’t that the Elvis script took the narrative to unexpected places or re-evaluated the legendary figure as anything other than his star persona (like other films tried and failed to do with other celebrities in 2022), but as a piece of cinema it was incomparable in its ability to transport you to another time and place; you could almost click your fingers to the rhythm of the edit.

You can’t help but to root for Elvis in this film when witnessing the control others had over his career, and the pressures he fought from government agencies. Luhrmann uses this to create moments of pure elation as you see Presley revolt at key moments, wagging his pinkie finger when told not to move at all, or singing one of his classics for television instead of the pre-determined list of Christmas songs. As you see him overcome the anxieties of being labelled a criminal or being told he’s a sell out, he comes to be seen as more of a revolutionary, a man who shook up the status quo of our culture and left us forever in the shadow of his impact.

Whether a fan of Elvis or not, this film does more than any before it to explain exactly why so many people loved him, and makes it impossible to reject his impact, his legacy and his talent; this is one of the great biopics of any figure from western popular culture.

9. Top Gun: Maverick

Top Gun: Maverick Review

Do you remember how movies used to feel when you were a kid? How they were massive, spectacular, awe-inspiring, inspirational? This is it. Top Gun: Maverick is lightning in a bottle, movie magic the likes of which we haven’t seen for years, the most significant blockbuster of our time.

Tom Cruise has long been championing the cinema experience – he pleaded with us to get our butts back in seats when the pandemic lockdowns began to be lifted, and asked that we change the settings on our televisions so we can watch films as they were intended to be seen. He has, quite literally many times at this point, put his life on the line for the best possible shot, simply to give us all the once-in-a-lifetime experience that only cinema can offer. With Top Gun: Maverick he has done all that and more, his nostalgia-tinted thrill ride of an action movie on one hand a tribute to the great blockbusters of years gone by and on the other hand a lesson to other filmmakers and studios on what blockbuster cinema can be moving forward. Top Gun: Maverick feels real – probably because so much of it is (the actors were in the airplanes after all) – and it exhilarates all the more for it, highlighting how so many other films are lacking in stakes, in that feeling of velocity, in that special something we didn’t even realise we were missing until now.

It isn’t a tremendously well-written movie, but it doesn’t have to be. This film excels in all the ways that cinema can, and that we all wish it would do so more often. It looks fantastic, like it has to be seen on the big screen, and it feels immersive. None of the characters are developed all that well, but they fulfil a purpose, and the story beats that are there aren’t layered on top of each other like in just about every other big budget action film, they’re spread out and made to feel significant. Here, the atmosphere is one of nostalgia and togetherness, there’s a loving tribute to Val Kilmer following his battle with cancer that seems to indicate a togetherness behind the scenes that transcends the film itself, and every character has minor interactions with others that make the universe feel lived in.

Post-pandemic, in an increasingly individualised society, Top Gun: Maverick has a hopeful message of togetherness, is a film that celebrates comradery on the screen and was designed to be watched in public with other people. More than just an action movie, or a great blockbuster, it is a powerful and significant entry into the canon of cinema that has come at just the right time for the theatrical experience, for spectacle-driven cinema, and for each of us.

Recommended for you: Top Gun: Maverick Is in Love with Companionship, Familiarity

Debuting screenwriter-director Charlotte Wells and her film Aftersun were the big winners at an evolved 2022 British Independent Film Awards.

Sunday 4th December saw the airing of the Twenty-Fifth British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs). Presented by Ben Bailey Smith in London, the ceremony awarded the very best of British independent film from the past year.

The biggest success of the night was Aftersun, Charlotte Wells’ stunningly poignant debut. Starring Paul Mescal and newcomer Frankie Corio, the drama explores the complex relationship between a daughter and her father whilst on holiday. The film received critical praise, with The Film Magazine giving it a perfect score. Aftersun picked up seven awards, including Best Director and Best British Independent Film, the latter of which was presented by Mescal’s ‘Normal People’ co-star Daisy Edgar-Jones. Aftersun‘s victory here could pave the way for BAFTA success.

2022 also marked the first time the ceremony awarded gender neutral acting awards. Previously, separate awards were given to actors and actresses. These categories were retooled as Best Lead Performance and Best Supporting Performance respectively. The recipients of these awards, Rosy McEwen and Kerrie Hayes, both starred in Blue Jean, Georgia Oakley’s heartbreaking LGBTQ+ drama.

Further new acting categories included Best Joint Lead Performance and Best Ensemble Performance. The former was awarded to Tamara Lawrance and Letitia Wright for their work in The Silent Twins, while the latter was picked up by Our River… Our Sky.

Sinéad O’Connor documentary, Nothing Compares, dominated its field, winning Best Feature Documentary and Best Debut Director for Feature Documentary – which was awarded to Kathryn Ferguson.

Finally, The Worst Person in the World received the award for Best International Independent Film. Joachim Trier’s romantic comedy faced stiff competition from the likes of Everything Everywhere All at Once and Decision to Leave, but was able to come out on top.

The winners of the 2022 British Independent Film Awards:

Best British Independent Film – Aftersun
Blue Jean
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Living
The Wonder

Best Director – Charlotte Wells (Aftersun)
Oliver Hermanus (Living)
Sophie Hyde (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande)
Sebastian Lelio (The Wonder)
Georgia Oakley (Blue Jean)

Best Screenplay – Charlotte Wells (Aftersun)
Katy Brand (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande)
Kazuo Ishiguro (Living)
Sebastian Lelio, Alice Birch, Emma Donoghue (The Wonder)
Georgia Oakley (Blue Jean)

Best Lead Performance – Rosy McEwen (Blue Jean)
Sally Hawkins (The Lost King)
Cosmo Jarvis (It Is in Us All)
Emma Mackey (Emily)
Bill Nighy (Living)
Florence Pugh (The Wonder)
Emily Watson (God’s Creatures)
Hala Zein (Nezouh)

Best Supporting Performance – Kerrie Hayes (Blue Jean)
Zoey Deutch (The Outfit)
Aisling Franciosi (God’s Creatures)
Lucy Halliday (Blue Jean)
Zainab Joda (Our River…Our Sky)
Fatma Mohamed (Flux Gourmet)
Paul Mescal (God’s Creatures)
Fionn Whitehead (Emily)
Aimee Lou Wood (Living)

Best Joint Lead Performance – Tamara Lawrance, Letitia Wright (The Silent Twins)
Frankie Corio, Paul Mescal (Aftersun)
Daryl McCormack, Emma Thompson (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande)
Jessie Buckley, Rory Kinnear (Men)

Best Ensemble Performance – Our River…Our Sky
Blue Jean
Emily
Flux Gourmet
The Wonder

Breakthrough Performance – Safia Oakley-Green (The Origin)
Frankie Corio (Aftersun)
Leo Long (I Used to Be Famous)
Kila Lord Cassidy (The Wonder)
Rosy McEwen (Blue Jean)

The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director – Charlotte Wells (Aftersun)
Andrew Cumming (The Origin)
Thomas Hardiman (Medusa Deluxe)
Frances O’Connor (Emily)
Georgia Oakley (Blue Jean)

Breakthrough Producer – Nadira Murray (Winners)
Aleksandra Bilic, Jennifer Corcoran (Nascondino)
Paul Kennedy (Nightride)
Rupert Majendie (Brian and Charles)
Helene Sifre (Blue Jean)

Best Debut Screenwriter – Georgia Oakley (Blue Jean)
Shane Crowley (God’s Creatures)
David Earl, Chris Hayward (Brian and Charles)
Ruth Greenberg (The Origin)
Charlotte Wells (Aftersun)

Best Debut Director for Feature Documentary – Kathryn Ferguson (Nothing Compares)
Victoria Fiore (Nascondino)
Leah Gordon, Eddie Hutton Mills (Kanaval)
Jono McLeod (My Old School)
Becky Hutner (Fashion Reimagined)

The Raindance Discovery Award – Winners
Electric Malady
Fadia’s Tree
Off the Rails
Rebellion

Best Feature Documentary – Nothing Compares
My Childhood, My Country
My Old School
Nascondino
Young Plato

Best British Short Film – Too Rough
A Fox in The Night
Honesty
Sandstorm
Scale

Best International Independent Film – The Worst Person in The World
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Close
Decision To Leave
Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Casting – Shaheen Baig (Blue Jean)
Leila Bertrand (Our River… Our Sky)
Kharmel Cochrane (The Silent Twins)
Kahleen Crawford (Living)
Lucy Pardee (Aftersun)

Best Cinematography – Gregory Oke (Aftersun)
Alfredo De Juan (Nascondino)
Rob Hardy (Men)
Joel Honeywell (Kanaval)
Ari Wegner (The Wonder)

Best Costume Design – Jenny Beavan (Mrs Harris Goes to Paris)
Saffron Cullane (Flux Gourmet)
Odile Dicks-Mireaux (The Wonder)
Frank Gallacher (Aftersun)
Sandy Powell (Living)

Best Editing – Blair McClendon (Aftersun)
Joanna Crickmay (Elizabeth: A Portrait in Parts)
Izabella Curry (Blue Jean)
Matyas Fekete (Flux Gourmet)
Mick Mahon (Nothing Compares)

Best Original Music – Matthew Herbert (The Wonder)
Saunder Jurriaans (God’s Creatures)
Oliver Coates (Aftersun)
Adam Janota Bzowski (The Origin)
Ben Salisbury, Geoff Barrow (Men)

Best Makeup & Hair Design – Eugene Souleiman, Scarlett O’Connell (Medusa Deluxe)
Oya Aygor, Murat Çagin (Aftersun)
Morna Ferguson, Lorri Ann King (The Wonder)
Siobhan Harper-Ryan (Flux Gourmet)
Niamh Morrison (The Origin)

Best Effects – David Simpson (Men)
Chris Marshall (The Feast)
Ahmed Yousry (Nezouh)

Best Music Supervision – Lucy Bright (Aftersun)
Phil Canning (The Phantom of the Open)
Rupert Hollier (Living)

Best Sound – Flux Gormet
Men
Aftersun
The Wonder
The Feast

Best Production Design – Living
Flux Gourmet
The Wonder
Aftersun
Medusa Deluxe

The Richard Harris Award For Outstanding Contribution By An Actor To British Film
Samantha Morton

The Special Jury Prize
Open Door

Follow @thefilmagazine on Twitter for more awards season coverage.

Aftersun (2022)
Director: Charlotte Wells
Screenwriter: Charlotte Wells
Starring: Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio, Celia Rowlson-Hall

Met with critical acclaim after first premiering during Cannes Critic Week, Charlotte Wells’ feature directorial debut opened the 2022 Edinburgh International Film Festival in its UK premiere. The feature, from the Scotland-born director, follows the father-daughter duo of Calum (Paul Mescal) and Sophie (Frankie Corio) as they holiday at a hotel resort in Turkey. 

It is a very simple tale but one that Wells has brought to the big screen with the utmost delicacy, Aftersun playing out like a gentle hand on your shoulder, leading you carefully through each of its events. Edited as naturally as the blink of an eye, each new cut feels almost habitual. It is in the smaller details, the fine lines, however, that the film truly excels. 

In many ways, Aftersun is very similar to that of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, tensions bubbling underneath the surface just waiting for an outburst, a release. Whereas the racial tensions between Mookie and Sal of Do the Right Thing are shown more outwardly through frank racist dialogue, the tensions between Calum and Sophie are more internal.

Early in the film, a very Scottish father is seen carrying his kicking and screaming child, accusingly saying “you always have to ruin it for everyone.” Calum’s parenting could not be farther from this, nor could Sophie’s behaviour. Instead they remain happy in each other’s company, though there is a constant feeling that one of them could snap at the other any minute.

This tension between the duo is the backbone of the entire film and masterfully delivered by both Mescal and Corio, both of whom give fantastic performances. Similar to the natural editing of the film, Corio and Mescal are naturally believable as a father and daughter. Corio brings a youthful energy to the film that is as relatable as it is adorable, and she delivers her dialogue so well that you’d believe she had improvised every line. Mescal brings weight to the film, evoking a range of emotions to project the demons that Calum is fighting whilst trying his best to be a good father. The weight and energy that Mescal and Corio forge creates an initial opposition between the two.

There are numerous moments in which it seems as though one may be unhappy with the other; Calum watching from afar as Sophie plays in the arcade with a boy, Sophie refusing to let her father put suntan lotion on her. In letting the tension remain, just waiting to explode, Wells expertly creates an unease that leaves you squirming in your seat, cringing at every awkward interaction, expecting something horrible to happen any minute now. It is this constant bait and switch that ensures Aftersun is so engaging.

The clear differences between the characters add new layers to the tensions that build between the two throughout, yet there is never a doubt that they love each other. Their bond, as emphasised through both through writing and performance, is palpable – it is clear that Calum is a great father and wants to be the best parent his kid can have, but his struggles with his own demons make it difficult. Equally so, it is clear that Sophie really appreciates everything her father does and loves him. 

In among the love and tension that Wells has created there is an excellent portrayal of family, a feeling of unwavering love no matter what happens. It is perhaps one of the greatest portrayals of a parent-daughter relationship put to screen. In a year where Everything Everywhere All at Once is heralded for its complexity, Aftersun deserves to be lauded with the same level of enthusiasm for its simplicity. Charlotte Wells’ directorial debut is a truly wonderful picture. 

Score: 24/24