God’s Own Country, Lady Macbeth and Death of Stalin dominate BIFAs

Florence Pugh received one of Lady Macbeth's 15 nominations.
Florence Pugh received one of Lady Macbeth’s 5 BIFAs.

Lady Macbeth has won the most prizes at the 20th British Independent Film Awards, the ceremony run by the Raindance organisation.

The 5 BIFAs awarded to the BBC Films production included Best Actress for Florence Pugh, Most Promising Newcomer for Naomi Ackie and Alice Birch’s script won the Best Screenplay award, sponsored by BBC Films.s

It’s other awards were for cinematography and costume design, previously announced at BIFA’s technical awards ceremony last month, the first time BIFA have held a separate ceremony to recognise a full range of creative behind-the-scenes roles.

God’s Own Country won 4 BIFAs, including the top Best British Independent Film award.

The top award of the night, Best British Independent Film, went to the gay drama God’s Own Country, which won a total of 4 BIFAs, including Best Actor for Josh O’Connor, Best Sound and Best Debut Screenwriter for director Francis Lee.

He was pipped to the post in both the Best Director and Best Debut Director categories by Rungano Nyoni, for her highly acclaimed I Am Not a Witch, which is credited as a Zambian film at the upcoming Independent Spirit Awards, where it’s up for the Best International Film Award. BIFA gave the corresponding prize to Get Out, starring the British actor Daniel Kaluuya.

The Death of Stalin is one of the higher profile films among the BIFA nominations.
The Death of Stalin’s 4 BIFA wins included one for casting

Armando Iannucci’s  Russian political satire The Death of Stalin matched God’s Own Country’s 4 wins, with Simon Russell Beale beating co-star Steve Buscemi to the Best Supporting Actor award, while it also took the technical prizes for production design, hair & make-up and casting.

Other honours handed out at the ceremony at Old Billingsgate saw the Best Supporting Actress prize go to Patricia Clarkson for The Party,  Almost Heaven was named the Best Documentary and the Best Short award went to Fish Story

There were also some broader honours handed out, including the Special Jury Prize for Femi Oguns, for work to tackle the lack of diversity on screen, Vanessa Redgrave was handed the Richard Harris Award recognising the outstanding contribution to British Film by an actor and Gary Oldman, soon to be seen as Winston Churchill in The Darkest Hour, was given the Variety Award to honour a British director, actor, writer or producer who’s made a global impact and focused international attention to the UK’s film industry.

And here is the full list of winners of the 20th BIFA Awards:

BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM 
 WINNER – “GOD’S OWN COUNTRY”
BEST SCREENPLAY
 WINNER – “LADY MACBETH” – ALICE BIRCH 
BEST DIRECTOR

 WINNER – “I AM NOT A WITCH” – RUNGANO NYONI

BEST ACTOR
 WINNER – JOSH O’CONNOR – “GOD’S OWN COUNTRY”

BEST ACTRESS
 WINNER – FLORENCE PUGH – “LADY MACBETH”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
 WINNER – SIMON RUSSELL BEALE – “THE DEATH OF STALIN

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
 WINNER – PATRICIA CLARKSON – “THE PARTY”

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER
 WINNER – NAOMI ACKIE – “LADY MACBETH”

THE DISCOVERY AWARD
 WINNER – “IN ANOTHER LIFE” 

THE DOUGLAS HICKOX AWARD (DEBUT DIRECTOR) 
 WINNER – “I AM NOT A WITCH” – RUNGANO NYONI

DEBUT SCREENWRITER
 WINNER –  “GOD’S OWN COUNTRY” FRANCIS LEE

BEST DOCUMENTARY
 WINNER – “ALMOST HEAVEN”

BREAKTHROUGH PRODUCER
 WINNER – “I AM NOT A WITCH” – EMILY MORGAN

BEST INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM
 WINNER – “GET OUT”

BEST CASTING
 WINNER – “THE DEATH OF STALIN” – SARAH CROWE

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
 WINNER – “LADY MACBETH” – ARI WEGNER

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
 WINNER – “LADY MACBETH” – HOLLY WADDINGTON 

BEST EDITING
 WINNER – “THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI” – JON GREGORY

BEST MAKE-UP & HAIR DESIGN
 WINNER – “THE DEATH OF STALIN” – NICOLE STAFFORD

BEST MUSIC
 WINNER – “THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI” – CARTER BURWELL

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
 WINNER – “THE DEATH OF STALIN” – CRISTINA CASALI

BEST SOUND
 WINNER – “GOD’S OWN COUNTRY” – ANNA BERTMARK

BEST EFFECTS
 WINNER – “THE RITUAL” – NICK ALDER & BEN WHITE

BEST BRITISH SHORT
 WINNER – “FISH STORY”