Sarah Gavron’s Rocks Wins 5 At British Independent Film Awards

Tonight the winners of the 2020 British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) were announced. The online ceremony was hosted by Harry Potter star Tom Felton, which saw Sarah Gavron‘s Rocks win big tonight.

The coming of age drama won 5 awards tonight which saw the film win Best British Independent Film. Actress Kosar Ali also taking home the awards for both Best ing Actress and Most Promising Newcomer with her young co-star D’Angelou Osei Kissiedu winning Best ing Actor. The four awards on the night took the film’s BIFA tally to five with Lucy Pardee winning the award for Best Casting when the craft award winners were announced in January.

Remi Weekes horror His House, winning Best Director and Wunmi Mosaku winning Best Actress, on top of the two craft awards. The film focuses on the plight of asylum seekers amongst the supernatural terror.

Anthony Hopkins’ poignant portrayal of an ageing man in The Father won him Best Actor amongst three wins for the film which also took home the awards for Best Screenplay for Florian Zeller, who also directed, and Christopher Hampton, and Best Editing for Yorgos Lamprinos.

Riz Ahmed took home the award for Debut Screenwriter for Mogul Mowgli, also written by Bassam Tariq, which was also awarded Best Music for Paul Corley.

Saint Maud director Rose Glass was awarded The Douglas Hickox Award for Debut Director with Ben Fordesman winning Best Cinematography in January.

The only category of the night open to non-UK films, Best International Independent Film , was won by Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland.

Best British Independent Film
CALM WITH HORSES Nick Rowland, Joe Murtagh, Daniel Emmerson
THE FATHER Florian Zeller, Christopher Hampton, David Parfitt, Jean-Louis Livi, Philippe Carcassonne
HIS HOUSE Remi Weekes, Martin Gentles, Edward King, Roy Lee, Aidan Elliott, Arnon Milchan
★ ROCKS Sarah Gavron, Theresa Ikoko, Claire Wilson, Faye Ward, Ameenah Ayub Allen
SAINT MAUD Rose Glass, Oliver Kassman, Andrea Cornwell

Best Director
SARAH GAVRON Rocks [associate director Anu Henriques]
ROSE GLASS Saint Maud
NICK ROWLAND Calm With Horses
★ REMI WEEKES His House
FLORIAN ZELLER The Father

Best Screenplay sponsored by BBC Film
ROSE GLASS Saint Maud
THERESA IKOKO, CLAIRE WILSON Rocks
BASSAM TARIQ, RIZ AHMED Mogul Mowgli
REMI WEEKES His House
★ FLORIAN ZELLER, CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON The Father

Best Actress
BUKKY BAKRAY Rocks
MORFYDD CLARK Saint Maud
CLARE DUNNE Herself
★ WUNMI MOSAKU His House
ANDREA RISEBOROUGH Luxor

Best Actor
RIZ AHMED Mogul Mowgli
ṢỌPẸ́ DÌRÍSÙ His House
AMIR EL-MASRY Limbo
★ ANTHONY HOPKINS The Father
COSMO JARVIS Calm With Horses

Best ing Actress
NIAMH ALGAR Calm With Horses
★ KOSAR ALI Rocks
JENNIFER EHLE Saint Maud
ASHLEY MADEKWE County Lines
FIONA SHAW Kindred

Best ing Actor
HARRIS DICKINSON County Lines
BARRY KEOGHAN Calm With Horses
ALYY KHAN Mogul Mowgli
MERAB NINIDZE The Courier
★ D’ANGELOU OSEI KISSIEDU Rocks

The Douglas Hickox Award (Debut Director) sponsored by Kodak & Pinewood
HENRY BLAKE County Lines
★ ROSE GLASS Saint Maud
EVA RILEY Perfect 10
NICK ROWLAND Calm With Horses
REMI WEEKES His House

Breakthrough Producer
DOUGLAS COX Host [also produced by Emily Gotto, Samuel Zimmerman]
DANIEL EMMERSON Calm With Horses
★ IRUNE GURTUBAI Limbo [also produced by Angus Lamont]
OLIVER KASSMAN Saint Maud [also produced by Andrea Cornwell]
EDWARD KING, MARTIN GENTLES His House [also produced by Aidan Elliott, Roy Lee, Arnon Milchan]

Debut Screenwriter sponsored by Film4
★ RIZ AHMED Mogul Mowgli [also written by Bassam Tariq]
ROSE GLASS Saint Maud
THERESA IKOKO, CLAIRE WILSON Rocks
JOE MURTAGH Calm With Horses
REMI WEEKES His House

Most Promising Newcomer
NIAMH ALGAR Calm With Horses
★ KOSAR ALI Rocks
BUKKY BAKRAY Rocks
FRANKIE BOX Perfect 10
CONRAD KHAN County Lines

Best Documentary
THE AUSTRALIAN DREAM Daniel Gordon, Stan Grant, Sarah Thomson, Nick Batzias, Virginia Whitwell, John Battsek
BEING A HUMAN PERSON Fred Scott, Mike Brett, Steve Jamison, Jo-Jo Ellison
★ THE REASON I JUMP Jerry Rothwell, Jeremy Dear, Stevie Lee, Al Morrow
RISING PHOENIX Ian Bonhôte, Peter Ettedgui, Greg Nugent, John Battsek, Tatyana McFadden
WHITE RIOT Rubika Shah, Ed Gibbs

The Raindance Discovery Award
JUSTINE Jamie Patterson, Jeff Murphy, Jason Rush, Sarah Drew, Julius Beltrame
LOOTED Rene van Pannevis, Kefi Chadwick, Jennifer Eriksson, Jessie Mangum
ONE MAN AND HIS SHOES Yemi Bamiro, Will Thorne
★ PERFECT 10 Eva Riley, Jacob Thomas, Bertrand Faivre, Valentina Brazzini
ROSE: A LOVE STORY Jennifer Sheridan, April Kelley, Sara Huxley, Matt Stokoe, Rob Taylor, Sophie Rundle

Best British Short Film ed by BFI NETWORK
FILIPIÑANA Rafael Manuel, Naomi Pacifique
THE FORGOTTEN C Molly Manning Walker, Jessi Gutch
★ THE LONG GOODBYE Aneil Karia, Riz Ahmed, Tom Gardner
MANDEM John Ogunmuyiwa, Emily Everdee
SUDDEN LIGHT Sophie Littman, Tom Wood

Best International Independent Film sponsored by Champagne Taittinger
BABYTEETH Shannon Murphy, Rita Kalnejais, Alex White
LES MISÉRABLES Ladj Ly, Giordano Gederlini, Alexis Manenti, Toufik Ayadi, Christophe Barral
NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS Eliza Hittman, Adele Romanski, Sara Murphy
★ NOMADLAND Chloé Zhao, s McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey
NOTTURNO Gianfranco Rosi, Donatella Palermo, Paolo Del Brocco, Serge Lalou, Camille Laemlé, Orwa Nyrabia, Eva-Maria Weerts

Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society of America & Spotlight
SHAHEEN BAIG Calm With Horses
KHARMEL COCHRANE Saint Maud
CARMEN CUBA His House
DAN JACKSON Limbo
★ LUCY PARDEE Rocks

Best Cinematography sponsored by Dirty Looks
NICK COOKE Limbo
★ BEN FORDESMAN Saint Maud
HÉLÈNE LOUVART Rocks
ANNIKA SUMMERSON Mogul Mowgli
JO WILLEMS His House

Best Costume Design
MICHELE CLAPTON The Secret Garden
RUKA JOHNSON Rocks
TINA KALIVAS Saint Maud
MICHAEL O’CONNOR Ammonite
★ CHARLOTTE WALTER Misbehaviour

Best Editing sponsored by Intermission Film
JULIA BLOCH His House
★ YORGOS LAMPRINOS The Father
MAYA MAFFIOLI Rocks
BRENNA RANGOTT Host
MARK TOWNS Saint Maud

Best Effects
AGNES ASPLUND, MARTIN MALMQVIST Undergods
SCOTT MACINTYRE, BARIŞ KARELI, KRISTYAN MALLETT Saint Maud
★ PEDRO SABROSA, STEFANO PEPIN His House

Best Make Up & Hair Design
JACQUETTA LEVON Saint Maud
SHARON A MARTIN His House
IVANA PRIMORAC Ammonite
NORA ROBERTSON Rocks
★ JILL SWEENEY Misbehaviour

Best Music sponsored by Universal Music Publishing Group
ROQUE BAÑOS His House
★ PAUL CORLEY Mogul Mowgli
NAINITA DESAI The Reason I Jump
CONNIE FARR, EMILIE LEVIENAISE-FARROUCH Rocks
ADAM JANOTA BZOWSKI Saint Maud

Best Production Design sponsored by Studio Juice
★ JACQUELINE ABRAHAMS His House
CRISTINA CASALI Misbehaviour
PETER FRANCIS The Father
MARKETA KORINKOVA, ELO SOODE Undergods
PAULINA RZESZOWSKA Saint Maud

Best Sound ed by Halo Post
ADRIAN BELL, GLENN FREEMANTLE, FRANK KRUSE, BRENDAN NICHOLSON, RICHARD PRYKE His House
PAUL DAVIES, SIMON FARMER, ANDREW SKIRK Saint Maud
PAUL DAVIES, ROBERT FARR, NIGEL ALBERMANICHE, IAN MORGAN Mogul Mowgli
★ NICK RYAN, BEN BAIRD, SARA DE OLIVEIRA LIMA The Reason I Jump
CALUM SAMPLE Host