Aleem Khan’s ‘After Love’ the big winner at the 2021 British Independent Film Awards (BIFA); ‘Belfast’ shut out completely

Aleem Khan’s After Love, set in the port town of Dover, where a recent widow discovers a secret after her husband’s unexpected death, was the big winner at 2021 British Independent Film Awards on Sunday, taking six awards: Best British Independent Film, Best Director, Best Debut Director and Best Screenplay – all for Khan – as well as Best Actress for Joanna Scanlan and Best Supporting Actor for Talid Ariss.

Philip Barantini’s Boiling Point, a single-take shot film about a struggling top chef and his team received 11 BIFA nominations this year, tying for the most, and won four awards; Best Cinematography for Matthew Lewis, Best Casting for Carolyn McLeod and Best Sound for James Drake, Rob Entwistle and Kiff McManus. Vinette Robinson bested the likes of Oscar winners Judi Dench (Belfast) and Tilda Swinton (The Souvenir Part II) to win Best Supporting Actress.

With nine BIFA nominations, The Souvenir Part II, Joanna Hogg’s follow up to 2019’s multi-BIFA nominated The Souvenir, won three awards; Best Costume Design for Grace Snell, Best Editing for Helle Le Fevre and Best Production Design for Stéphane Collonge. All three were BIFA nominated in 2019 for their work on The Souvenir.

Best Effects went to Mike Knights, Steven Bray, Dan Martin and Leigh Cranston for their work on Rob Savage’s fright-fest road-trip horror DASHCAM. Best Make-Up and Hair Design went to Vickie Lang, Kristyan Mallett and Donald McInnes for The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, Will Sharpe’s biopic of the eccentric Edwardian artist, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Clio Barnard’s forbidden love drama Ali & Ava, which received seven nominations, including Best British Independent Film, won Best Music and Best Actor for Adeel Akhtar.

Although it entered the nominations tying with a field-best 11, Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast was completely shut out of wins. The film has missed nominations in top categories: Best British Independent Film and Best Director as well as Best Screenplay.

Riz Ahmed received the Richard Harris Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Film by an Actor. The Crown star Emma Corrin presented a Special Jury Prize to Raising Films, the organization dedicated to supporting parents and carers in the UK film industry.

Here is the full list of nominees and winners for the 2021 British Independent Film Awards.

Best British Independent Film

• After Love – Aleem Khan, Matthieu De Braconier – WINNER
• Ali & Ava – Clio Barnard, Tracy O’riordan
• Boiling Point – Philip Barantini, James Cummings, Bart Ruspoli, Hester Ruoff
• The Nest – Sean Durkin, Ed Guiney, Derrin Schlesinger, Rose Garnett, Amy Jackson, Cristina Piovesan
• The Souvenir Part II – Joanna Hogg, Ed Guiney, Emma Norton, Andrew Lowe, Luke Schiller

Best Director

• Philip Barantini – Boiling Point
• Clio Barnard – Ali & Ava
• Sean Durkin – The Nest
• Joanna Hogg – The Souvenir Part II
• Aleem Khan – After Love – WINNER

Best Screenplay

• Clio Barnard – Ali & Ava
• Terence Davies – Benediction
• Sean Durkin – The Nest
• Joanna Hogg – The Souvenir Part II
• Aleem Khan – After Love – WINNER

Best Actress

• Caitríona Balfe – Belfast
• Carrie Coon – The Nest
• Claire Rushbrook – Ali & Ava
• Joanna Scanlan – After Love – WINNER
• Ruth Wilson – True Things

Best Actor

• Riz Ahmed – Encounter
• Adeel Akhtar – Ali & Ava – WINNER
• Stephen Graham – Boiling Point
• Jude Law – The Nest
• James Norton – Nowhere Special

Best Supporting Actress

• Judi Dench – Belfast
• Jo Hartley – Sweetheart
• Nathalie Richard – After Love
• Vinette Robinson – Boiling Point – WINNER
• Tilda Swinton – The Souvenir Part II

Best Supporting Actor

• Talid Ariss – After Love – WINNER
• Richard Ayoade – The Souvenir Part II
• Lucian-River Chauhan – Encounter
• Ciarán Hinds – Belfast
• Ray Panthaki – Boiling Point

The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director

• Prano Bailey-Bond – Censor
• Celeste Bell – Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché [also directed by Paul Sng]
• Cathy Brady – Wildfire
• Aleem Khan – After Love – WINNER
• Marley Morrison – Sweetheart

Breakthrough Producer

• Michelle Antoniades – Sweetheart – WINNER
• Helen Jones – Censor
• Jessica Malik – She Will [also produced by Bob Last]
• Hester Ruoff – Boiling Point [also produced by Bart Ruspoli]
• Rob Watson – The Power [also produced by Matthew James Wilkinson]

Breakthrough Performance

• Lauryn Ajufo – Boiling Point
• Nell Barlow – Sweetheart – WINNER
• Max Harwood – Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
• Jude Hill – Belfast
• Ellora Torchia – In The Earth

Best Debut Screenwriter

• Prano Bailey-Bond – Censor [also written by Anthony Fletcher]
• Cathy Brady – Wildfire – WINNER
• Aleem Khan – After Love
• Marley Morrison – Sweetheart
• Reggie Yates – Pirates

Best Documentary

• Cow – Andrea Arnold, Kat Mansoor
• Dying To Divorce – Chloë Fairweather, Sinead Kirwan
• I Am Belmaya – Sue Carpenter, Christopher Hird
• Keyboard Fantasies – Posy Dixon, Liv Proctor
• Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché – Paul Sng, Celeste Bell, Zoë Howe, Rebecca Mark-Lawson, Matthew Silverman, Daria Nitsche – WINNER

The Discovery Award

• Bank Job – Daniel Edelstyn, Hilary Powell, Christopher Hird
• The Bike Thief – Matt Chambers, Pk Fellowes, Sophia Gibber, Lene Bausager
• I Am Belmaya – Sue Carpenter, Christopher Hird
• Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché – Paul Sng, Celeste Bell, Zoë Howe, Rebecca Mark-Lawson, Matthew Silverman, Daria Nitsche – WINNER
• Rebel Dykes – Harri Shanahan, Siân A. Williams, Siobhan Fahey

Best British Short Film

• Egúngún (Masquerade) – Olive Nwosu, Alex Polunin
• Femme – Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping, Sam Riztenberg, Hayley Williams, Rienjke Attoh – WINNER
• Night Of The Living Dread – Ida Melum, Laura Jayne Tunbridge, Hannah Kelso, Danielle Goff
• Play It Safe – Mitch Kalisa, Chris Toumazou
• Precious Hair & Beauty – John Ogunmuyiwa, Sophia Gibber, Tony Longe, Lene Bausager

Best International Independent Film

• Compartment No. 6 – Juho Kuosmanen, Livia Ulman, Andris Feldmanis, Jussi Rantamäki, Emilia Haukka
• First Cow – Kelly Reichardt, Jon Raymond, Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani
• Flee – Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Amin Nawabi, Monica Hellstrøm, Signe Byrge Sørensen – WINNER
• Petite Maman – Céline Sciamma, Bénédicte Couvreur
• Pleasure – Ninja Thyberg, Peter Modestij, Erik Hemmendorff, Eliza Jones, Markus Waltå

Best Casting

• Shaheen Baig – After Love
• Shaheen Baig – Ali & Ava
• Shaheen Baig – Pirates
• Lucy Bevan, Emily Brockmann – Belfast
• Carolyn Mcleod – Boiling Point – WINNER

Best Cinematography

• Mátyás Erdély – The Nest
• Magdalena Kowalczyk – Cow
• Matthew Lewis – Boiling Point – WINNER
• Annika Summerson – Censor
• Haris Zambarloukos – Belfast

Best Costume Design

• Michael O’Connor – The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain
• Grace Snell – The Souvenir Part II – WINNER
• Guy Speranza – Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
• Annie Symons – Benediction
• Charlotte Walter – Belfast

Best Editing

• Helle Le Fevre – The Souvenir Part II – WINNER
• Rebecca Lloyd, Jacob Schulsinger, Nicolas Chaudeurge – Cow
• Úna Ní Dhonghaíle – Belfast
• Mark Towns – Censor
• Ben Wheatley – In The Earth

Best Music

• Iain Cooke – Pirates
• Connie Farr, Harry Escott – Ali & Ava – WINNER
• Jed Kurzel – Encounter
• Clint Mansell – In The Earth
• Van Morrison – Belfast

Best Make-Up & Hair

• Siobhan Harper-Ryan – The Souvenir Part II
• Vickie Lang, Kristyan Mallett, Donald McInnes – The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain – WINNER
• Ruth Pease – Censor
• Nadia Stacey – Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
• Wakana Yoshihara – Belfast

Best Effects

• Steven Bray, Mike Knights – DASHCAM – WINNER
• Gary Brown, István Molnár, Dan Martin – Censor
• Rupert Davies – The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain

Best Production Design

• Jim Clay – Belfast
• Stéphane Collonge – The Souvenir Part II – WINNER
• Suzie Davies – The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain
• Aimee Meek – Boiling Point
• Paulina Rzeszowska – Censor

Best Sound

• Nicolas Becker, Cyril Holtz, Linda Forsen – Cow
• James Drake – Boiling Point – WINNER
• Tim Harrison, Jamie Roden, Adele Fletcher – Censor
• Martin Pavey – In The Earth
• Andrew Stirk, Paul Davies, Morgan Muse, Bernard O’reilly, Julian Howarth – Encounter