First winners announced for British Independent Film Awards

The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) announced the first of this year’s award winners for its nine film craft categories.

Philip Barantini’s Boiling Point, a break-neck single-take focus on a struggling top chef and his team which received 11 BIFA nominations this year, has won three awards; Best Cinematography sponsored by Dirty Looks & Kodak for Matthew Lewis, Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society & Spotlight for Carolyn McLeod and Best Sound supported by Halo Post for James Drake, Rob Entwistle and Kiff McManus.

With nine BIFA nominations this year, The Souvenir Part II, Joanna Hogg’s follow up to 2019’s multi-BIFA nominated The Souvenir, has also 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 goes 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 goes 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 tender forbidden love drama Ali & Ava, which has received seven nominations, including Best British Independent Film, has won Best Music sponsored by Universal Music Publishing Group for Connie Farr and Harry Escott.

BIFA introduced these nine award categories in 2017 to better recognise the wealth of exceptional talent working on British independent films. The nominations and winners have been chosen by BIFA voters over the course of three rounds of viewing, discussion and voting.

The winners in all remaining categories will be announced at the in-person ceremony on Sunday 5 December at Old Billingsgate.