AMERICAN HONEY HITS A SWEET SPOT WITH BIFA 2016

American Honey would certainly not have been my #1 choice to win the top prizes at the 2016 British Independent Film Awards, but Andrea Arnold's an excellent filmmaker, and I'm super happy that a female director has triumphed. Plus, the rest of BIFA's choices are solid, including a healthy haul for Babak Anvari's Under the Shadow and a win for Notes on Blindness. Good stuff on the whole, and you know I like a bit of good stuff on my whole. Remember their nominations? No? They're here, and their awards are...

Best British Independent Film

American Honey

Best Director

Andrea Arnold (American Honey)

Best Actress

Sasha Lane (American Honey)

Best Actor

Dave Johns (I, Daniel Blake)

Best Supporting Actress

Avin Manshadi (Under the Shadow)

Best Supporting Actor

Brett Goldstein (Adult Life Skills)

Best Screenplay

Babak Anvari (Under the Shadow)

Best Documentary

Notes on Blindness

Best International Independent Film

Moonlight

Outstanding Achievement in Craft

Robbie Ryan (American Honey) - cinematography

Best Breakthrough Producer

Camille Gatin (The Girl with All the Gifts)

The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director

Babak Anvari (Under the Shadow)

Most Promising Newcomer

Hayley Squires (I, Daniel Blake)

Best Debut Screenwriter

Rachel Tunnard (Adult Life Skills)

2016 BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM AWARD NOMINATIONS HIGHLIGHT A FANTASTIC YEAR FOR U.K. INDIES

A healthy and diverse offering from the British Independent Film Awards, displaying the talent that abounds in the British film industry today, making low-budget but high-impact features that court renown the world over. I, Daniel Blake leads with an impressive seven nominations, while Adult Life Skills, American Honey and a favourite of mine, horror debut Under the Shadow (the U.K.'s official Foreign Language Film Oscar entry), follow closely with six each. I'm also very pleased to see a strong showing for Notes on Blindness, joining Shadow as one of two first features up for the top award. Truly a selection with something for everyone! Award winners are due to be announced at BIFA's London ceremony on the 4th of December. Check out all the nominees just below.

Best British Independent Film

American Honey

Couple in a Hole

I, Daniel Blake

Notes on Blindness

Under the Shadow

Best Director

Babak Anvari (Under the Shadow)

Andrea Arnold (American Honey)

Ken Loach (I, Daniel Blake)

Peter Middleton and James Spinney (Notes on Blindness)

Ben Wheatley (Free Fire)

Best Actor

Steve Brandon (My Feral Heart)

Michael Fassbender (Trespass Against Us)

Dave Johns (I, Daniel Blake)

Shia LaBeouf (American Honey)

Max Records (I Am Not a Serial Killer)

Best Actress

Kate Dickie (Couple in a Hole)

Sasha Lane (American Honey)

Narges Rashidi (Under the Shadow)

Hayley Squires (I, Daniel Blake)

Jodie Whittaker (Adult Life Skills)

Best Supporting Actor

Jamie Dornan (Anthropoid)

Brett Goldstein (Adult Life Skills)

Sean Harris (Trespass Against Us)

Arinze Kene (The Pass)

Christopher Lloyd (I Am Not a Serial Killer)

Best Supporting Actress

Gemma Arterton (The Girl with All the Gifts)

Naomie Harris (Our Kind of Traitor)

Avin Manshadi (Under the Shadow)

Terry Pheto (A United Kingdom)

Shana Swash (My Feral Heart)

Best Screenplay

Babak Anvari (Under the Shadow)

Andrea Arnold (American Honey)

Christopher Hyde and Billy O'Brien (I Am Not a Serial Killer)

Paul Laverty (I, Daniel Blake)

Rachel Tunnard (Adult Life Skills)

Outstanding Achievement in Craft

Shaheen Baig (Free Fire) - casting

Seb Baker (The Girl with All the Gifts) - visual effects

Paul Monaghan and Mat Whitecross (Supersonic) - editing

Robbie Ryan (American Honey) - cinematography

Joakim Sundstrom (Notes on Blindness) - sound

Best Documentary

The Confession: Living the War on Terror

Dancer

The Hard Stop

Notes on Blindness

Versus: The Life and Films of Ken Loach

Best International Independent Film

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Manchester by the Sea

Moonlight

Mustang

Toni Erdmann

Best Breakthrough Producer

Michael Berliner (Adult Life Skills)

Mike Brett, Jo-Jo Ellison and Steve Jamison (Notes on Blindness)

Paul Fegan (Where You're Meant to Be)

Camille Gatin (The Girl with All the Gifts)

Dionne Walker (The Hard Stop)

The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director

Babak Anvari (Under the Shadow)

Alice Lowe (Prevenge)

Peter Middleton and James Spinney (Notes on Blindness)

Adam Smith (Trespass Against Us)

Rachel Tunnard (Adult Life Skills)

Most Promising Newcomer

Steve Brandon (My Feral Heart)

Dave Johns (I, Daniel Blake)

Sennia Nanua (The Girl with All the Gifts)

Hayley Squires (I, Daniel Blake)

Letitia Wright (Urban Hymn)

Best Debut Screenwriter

Julian Barratt and and Simon Farnaby (Mindhorn)

John Cairns and Michael McCartney (A Patch of Fog)

Hope Dickson Leach (The Levelling)

Ed Talfan (The Passing)

Rachel Tunnard (Adult Life Skills)

REVIEW - UNDER THE SHADOW (BABAK ANVARI)

A world beyond wreaks havoc on the cloistered confines of a besieged apartment block in 1988 Tehran; Babak Anvari's debut feature follows in the footsteps of many similar horror films, but in selecting only those standards that adhere to those set out by his thematic premise, and in enriching them with further subtextual detail, he places distinctive footsteps of his own over and beyond those placed before him. Under the Shadow is a perfectly adequate, functional horror film, indeed a particularly bone-chilling one, without Anvari's psychological and societal inquiries muddying the water, but it's precisely that muddying that turns it into both a brilliant horror film, and a brilliant film by the measures of any genre. By its conclusion, each thread of suggestion, whichever point you suspect Anvari may be making with each new turn in the narrative, all coalesce into one, fearsome whole, arguably even more distressing than the many, excellent scares concocted herein. But those threads in isolation, gradually amassing throughout the film, supply almost equally persuasive and wonderfully abundant metaphorical weight to Under the Shadow. Anvari's scheme is relevant, provocative, richly shaded with the realities of life under such circumstances as well as the fantasies that give this film so unique and memorable a character. The direction too displays remarkable assurance for an artist on only their first feature - the grip of terror taking hold within a relentlessly claustrophobic environment, though Anvari consistently keeps Under the Shadow varied in its locations, and shows marvellous mastery of technique in extracting such terror from his scenario. Fear reigned in Tehran in 1988 - in Under the Shadow, it reigns still today.