Aftersun wins seven BIFAs including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay

5^th December 2022

The editorial unit

The editorial unit

5 December 2022

Last night, the winners of the 25th British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) were announced in a star-studded ceremony at Old Billingsgate, hosted by Ben Bailey Smith.

The award for Best British Independent Film went to Aftersun, Charlotte Wells’s moving directorial debut centred on a daughter’s memorable childhood holiday with her father. Echoing Aleem Khan’s 2021 BIFA wins for After Love, Wells scooped three further BIFA awards – Best Director, The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director and Best Screenplay, to add to Aftersun’s three craft awards: Best Cinematography for Gregory Oke, Best Editing for Blair McClendon and the new Best Music Supervision award for Lucy Bright.   

Best Lead Performance went to Rosy McEwen and Best Supporting Performance to Kerrie Hayes for their roles in Georgia Oakley’s 1980s Section 28 era set Blue Jean, which also saw Georgia awarded the Best Debut Screenwriter. Previously announced, the Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society and Spotlight award went to Shaheen Baig for her work on the film.

Breakthrough Performance went to Safia Oakley-Green in The Origin, Andrew Cumming’s multi-nominated debut feature in which a nomadic tribe faces a terrifying ancient threat that comes when night falls. 

Further new categories for 2022 saw Best Joint Lead Performance awarded to Tamara Lawrance and Letitia Wright for their roles as extraordinary real-life siblings who communicated only with each other in The Silent Twins, and Our River…Our Sky took home the Best Ensemble award for cast members including Zainab Joda, Darina Al Joundi, Amed Hashimi, Mahmoud Abo Al Abbas, Basim Hajar, Labwa Arab, Meriam Abbas and Siham Mustafa, who portray neighbours caught in Baghdad during the civil war of 2006. 

Glory in the documentary awards categories went to Nothing Compares, a reflection on the life of fearless trailblazer Sinead O’Connor, which won both the Best Feature Documentary and Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary BIFAs for director Kathryn Ferguson.

Hassan Nazer’s Iran-set Winners, in which three film lovers seek the owner of a very recognisable golden statuette, won this year’s Raindance Discovery Award, also scoring the Breakthrough Producer award win for Nadira Murray.

Best British Short Film went to Too Rough, in which a young gay couple must avoid the threat of a homophobic and dysfunctional family.  

Winning Best International Independent Film, Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World follows one woman’s less than straightforward quest for love and meaning in the modern world.

Previously announced craft award winners were also honoured at the ceremony, including Jenny Beavan for Best Costume Design for her work on Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, Matthew Herbert  for Best Original Music for The Wonder, Eugene Souleiman and Scarlett O’Connell for Best Make-Up and Hair Design for Medusa Deluxe, Helen Scott for Best Production Design for Living, David Simpson for Best Effects for Men and Tim Harrison, Raoul Brand and Cassandra Rutledge for Best Sound to for gastronomic soundscape Flux Gourmet.

The 2022 Richard Harris Award for Outstanding Contribution by an Actor to British Film was presented to Samantha Morton.

The Special Jury Prize, awarded by the BIFA Main Jury and presented by 2022 jury member Jenna Coleman, was given to Open Door for their work helping talented young people without financial support or resources gain places at leading UK drama schools.

Here’s the full list BIFA nominees and winners 2022

Best British Independent Film

WINNER AFTERSUN Charlotte Wells, Barry Jenkins, Mark Ceryak, Adele Romanski, Amy Jackson

BLUE JEAN Georgia Oakley, Hélène Sifre

GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE Sophie Hyde, Katy Brand, Debbie Gray, Adrian Politowski

LIVING Oliver Hermanus, Kazuo Ishiguro, Stephen Woolley, Elizabeth Karlsen

THE WONDER Sebastián Lelio, Emma Donoghue, Alice Birch, Juliette Howell, Andrew Lowe, Tessa Ross, Ed Guiney

The Richard Harris Award for Outstanding Contribution by an Actor to British Film

Samantha Morton

The Special Jury Prize

Open Door 

Best Feature Documentary sponsored by Intermission

MY CHILDHOOD, MY COUNTRY – 20 YEARS IN AFGHANISTAN Phil Grabsky, Shoaib Sharifi, Amanda Wilkie

MY OLD SCHOOL Jono McLeod, John Archer, Olivia Lichtenstein

NASCONDINO [HIDE & SEEK] Victoria Fiore, Jennifer Corcoran, Aleksandra Bilić

WINNER NOTHING COMPARES Kathryn Ferguson, Eleanor Emptage, Michael Mallie

YOUNG PLATO Neasa Ní Chianáin, Declan McGrath, David Rane

Best British Short Film supported by BFI Network

A FOX IN THE NIGHT Keeran Anwar Blessie, Benjamin Jacob Smith

HONESTY Roxy Rezvany, Emily Renée, Elly Camisa

SANDSTORM Seemab Gul, Abid Aziz Merchant

SCALE Joseph Pierce, Hélène Mitjavile

WINNER TOO ROUGH Sean Lìonadh, Ross McKenzie, Alfredo Covelli

Best International Independent Film sponsored by Champagne Taittinger

ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin, Yoni Golijov,

CLOSE Lukas Dhont, Angelo Tijssens, Michiel Dhont, Dirk Impens

DECISION TO LEAVE Park Chan-wook, Chung Seo-Kyung

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang, Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Mike Larocca

WINNER THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar, Thomas Robsahm

The editorial unit
Photo: Courtesy of BIFA