During British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) ceremony which took place December 5 in London Paul Sng and Celeste Bell’s Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché won British in both the Best Documentary and Raindance Discovery Award categories, while Danish Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee received the nod for the Best International Independent Film.
The winners in most categories (including Best Documentary) are decided by independent juries, newly appointed each year and not involved in the nominations process.
The winners for Best International Independent Film and The Raindance Discovery Award are decided by a confidential vote amongst all BIFA voters.
Best Documentary (nominees and winner in bold):
Cow – Andrea Arnold, Kat Mansoor
Dying To Divorce – Chloë Fairweather, Sinead Kirwan
I Am Belmaya – Sue Carpenter, Christopher Hird
Keyboard Fantasies – Posy Dixon, Liv Proctor
Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché – Paul Sng, Celeste Bell, Zoë Howe, Rebecca Mark-Lawson, Matthew Silverman, Daria Nitsche
The Raindance Discovery Award (nominees and winner in bold):
Bank Job – Daniel Edelstyn, Hilary Powell, Christopher Hird
The Bike Thief – Matt Chambers, Pk Fellowes, Sophia Gibber, Lene Bausager
I Am Belmaya – Sue Carpenter, Christopher Hird
Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché – Paul Sng, Celeste Bell, Zoë Howe, Rebecca Mark-Lawson, Matthew Silverman, Daria Nitsche
Rebel Dykes – Harri Shanahan, Siân A. Williams, Siobhan Fahey
Best International Independent Film (nominees and winner in bold):
Compartment No. 6 – Juho Kuosmanen, Livia Ulman, Andris Feldmanis, Jussi Rantamäki, Emilia Haukka
First Cow – Kelly Reichardt, Jon Raymond, Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani
Flee – Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Amin Nawabi, Monica Hellstrøm, Signe Byrge Sørensen
Petite Maman – Céline Sciamma, Bénédicte Couvreur
Pleasure – Ninja Thyberg, Peter Modestij, Erik Hemmendorff, Eliza Jones, Markus Waltå
BIFA was founded by Elliot Grove and Suzanne Ballantyne in 1998, who also founded the Raindance Film Festival in 1993.
