Scottish Films Among The Nominees For Upcoming Awards

Filth and Under the Skin lead the North-of-the-Border contingent for the Moët British Independent Film Awards, with five and four nominations respectively.

The nominations for the 16^th annual Moët British Independent Film Awards were announced today, at St Martins Lane, London by actor, BIFA Patron and previous winner, Ewan McGregor.

Joint Directors, The Moët British Independent Film Awards’ Johanna von Fischer & Tessa Collinson said: “We would like to thank our dedicated members who viewed over 200 films, in an extremely competitive year. The variety of films submitted reached a new level this year with films covering a range of subject matters and genres that perfectly showcases the diversity and creativity at work in British independent filmmaking today. Now our wonderful independent jury, announced today, will have the unenviable task of choosing the winners who will be the first to receive the newly launched iconic signature trophy designed by Fredrikson Stallard, created by Swarovski at the Moët British Independent Film Awards.

The highest number of nominations this year goes to Starred Up with 8 nominations including Best British Independent Film, Best Director for David Mackenzie, Best Screenplay for Jonathan Asser, Best Actor for Jack O’Connell, and two Best Supporting Actor nominations for Rupert Friend and Ben Mendelsohn. The Selfish Giant picked up 7 nominations and Filth, Metro Manila and Le Week-end all picked up 5 nominations each.

Nominations for Best Actress go to Judi Dench for Philomena, Lindsay Duncan for Le Week-end, Scarlett Johansson for Under The Skin, Felicity Jones for The Invisible Woman and Saoirse Ronan for How I Live Now. Along with Jack O’Connell for Starred Up, leading men hoping to take home the Best Actor award include Jim Broadbent for Le Week-end, Steve Coogan for Philomena, Tom Hardy for Locke and James McAvoy for Filth. Best Supporting Actor nominations go to John Arcilla for Metro Manila, Jeff Goldblum for Le Week-end, Eddie Marsan for Filth and the two Starred Up actors Rupert Friend and Ben Mendelsohn. Siobhan Finneran for The Selfish Giant, Shirley Henderson for Filth, Imogen Poots for The Look of Love, Kristin Scott Thomas for The Invisible Woman and Mia Wasikowska for The Double are all nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Award.

Directors who have delivered dynamic debuts this year and are fighting for the Douglas Hickox Award are Charlie Cattrall for Titus, Tina Gharavi for I Am Nasrine, Jeremy Lovering for In Fear, Omid Nooshin for Last Passenger and Paul Wright for For Those in Peril.

Ben Roberts, Director of the BFI Film Fund comments: “Where other awards sometimes fear to tread, the MBIFAs puts the wild creativity of British independent filmmaking front and centre. This year we have witnessed a renewed confidence in bold UK filmmaking which has been recognised around the world and will inspire a new generation of talent. The BFI NET.WORK has been established to support extraordinary new voices who need a platform like the BIFAs to showcase their talent to the industry, and that’s why we are so pleased to support the Best British Short award this year.”

The Raindance Award nominees for 2013 include: Everyone’s Going to Die, The Machine, The Patrol, Sleeping Dogs and Titus. This award honours exceptional achievement for filmmakers working against the odds, often with little or no industry support.  Elliot Grove, Founder of Raindance Film Festival and Moët British Independent Film Awards added: “Its a delight to see how in just a few years the BIFA nominations have become one of the most eagerly anticipated film events of the calendar year. Congratulations to all the nominees.”