The Edinburgh International Film Festival Awards

The Edinburgh International Film Festival today announced the winners in the twelve competition categories for both feature and short films. The awards were presented by EIFF Artistic Director Hannah McGill, Deputy Artistic Director Diane Henderson and Patrons Sir Sean Connery and Seamus McGarvey on the closing day of the Festival at a public ceremony in Filmhouse. This year’s winners are:

Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film, sponsored by the UK Film Council
MOON – Directed by Duncan Jones

PPG Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film
KATIE JARVIS – Fish Tank

Best New International Feature Award
EASIER WITH PRACTICE – Directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez

Standard Life Audience Award
THE SECRET OF KELLS – Directed by Tomm Moore

Best Documentary Award
BORIS RYZHY – Directed by Aliona Van der Horst

Skillset New Directors Award
CARY JOJI FUKUNAGA – Sin Nombre

The Rotten Tomatoes Critical Consensus Award
HUMPDAY – Directed by Lynn Shelton

UK Film Council Award for Best British Short Film
AFTER TOMORROW – Directed by Emma Sullivan

Best International Short Film Award
PRINCESS MARGARET BLD. – Directed by Kazik Radwanski

Scottish Short Documentary Award supported by Baillie Gifford
PETER IN RADIOLAND – Directed by Johanna Wagner

McLaren Award for New British Animation in partnership with BBC Film Network
PHOTOGRAPH OF JESUS – Directed by Laurie Hill

This year’s Michael Powell Jury were director Joe Wright (ATONEMENT) who presided over the five-strong Jury: film critic Claudia Puig; acclaimed actress Sacha Horler (MY YEAR WITHOUT SEX); journalist and author Janet Street-Porter and Academy Award® Best Actor nominee Frank Langella (FROST/NIXON).

The Jury citation read: “We award MOON for its singular vision and remarkably assured direction as well as for the inspired manner in which it transcends genre. The central performance by Sam Rockwell embodies the film’s emotional complexity and compelling philosophical perspective.”

On awarding Katie Jarvis the PPG Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film, the Jury cited: “We award Katie Jarvis’ performance in FISH TANK for her portrayal of obsessive first love and visceral alienation. The moral ambiguity is illuminated by this extraordinary debut.”

Katie Jarvis commented: “This has been an amazing year for me in more ways than one. I was lucky enough to spend my 18th birthday in Edinburgh last week, where FISH TANK was shown, and this is such a great 18th present! It is a real honour to receive this award, both for myself and the film. I would like to thank Andrea for the opportunity and for believing in me.”

John Woodward, Chief Executive Officer of the UK Film Council, sponsor of the award, added: “The UK Film Council’s support of the EIFF underlines our deep commitment to celebrating and nurturing film talent. Winning the Michael Powell Award confirms Duncan Jones as an emerging British director with a very bright future. And I’m delighted for Emma Sullivan, awarded the short film prize for AFTER TOMORROW, and newcomer Katie Jarvis, winner of the best performance prize for FISH TANK, both of whose films were funded through the Film Council’s New Cinema Fund.”

The inaugural Best New International Feature Award was deliberated by an international Jury of three: actor/director Alan Cumming, author Lee Marshall and actor Kerry Fox. The Jury citation read: “EASIER WITH PRACTICE is an astonishingly assured writing and directing debut, distinguished by a gift for original storytelling, a striking visual aesthetic, and a series of powerfully revealing and truthful performances.”

EIFF Artistic Director, Hannah McGill said: “I’m delighted by these results and I thank our juries for their hard work and their presence in Edinburgh, which helped to make this year’s Festival so exciting. It says a lot about EIFF and its mission as a discovery festival that Duncan Jones, Kyle Patrick Alvarez, Tomm Moore and Cary Joji Fukunaga are all first-time feature directors. We have had a fantastic year and I’m thrilled that all of our prizewinners have been part of it, as well as, of course, all the other filmmakers who’ve attended and given us the privilege of screening their work. I hope their success here helps them go forward in their careers, and I hope we’ll see them all back in Edinburgh in the future with further work.”

The Documentary Jury citation read: “For a visually stunning, imaginative, sensitive and ultimately revealing portrait of both an individual psyche and a national predicament, the jury unanimously award the Best Feature Documentary Award to Aliona Van der Horst for her film BORIS RYZHY.”

Commenting on the Skillset New Director’s Award winner, Neil Peplow Skillset’s Director of Film, said: “I am delighted that Skillset has been able to once again support the New Directors’ Award at EIFF. SIN NOMBRE is a work of staggering achievement. It is a highly ambitious and accomplished film, let alone as a first feature. Cary has shown himself a future talent to reckon with, and completely deserves this award. I hope it goes some way to helping him get his next features produced and distributed, and I look forward to seeing his career flourish.”


Notes to Editors:

The Michael Powell Award
Named in homage to one of Britain’s most original filmmakers and inaugurated in 1993, the Michael Powell Award has been supported by the UK Film Council since 2001. Rewarding imagination and creativity in British filmmaking, the award is judged by an international jury and carries a cash prize of £20,000.

PPG Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film
Thanks to the generous support of PPG, 2009 sees the third year of the award to honour the Best Performance in a British feature film. The award is judged by the Michael Powell Jury.

Standard Life Audience Award
Sponsored by Standard Life, the winner is chosen by audience votes from the Gala and British Gala sections.

Best Documentary Feature Award
In 2006 EIFF introduced an award for Best Documentary Feature. The award recognises a singular and compelling achievement in non-fiction filmmaking and is intended to honour work which reveals a fascination with a particular subject, rendered onscreen with style, truthfulness and integrity to its sources. There is a cash prize of £5000.

Skillset New Directors Award
This award is to acknowledge new interpretation and innovation in filmmaking and underlines one of the basic tenets of the EIFF, which is to be a festival of discovery. The award, judged by jury, is selected from first and second time filmmakers in the Rosebud and British Gala sections. There is a cash prize of £5000.

Best British Short Film Award
Judged by an international jury with a cash prize of £1000, this award recognizes new talent in UK filmmaking. The award has been supported by the UK Film Council since 2004.

Scottish Short Documentary Award supported by Baillie Gifford
Supporting Scottish talent, this award will reward first and second time short documentary filmmakers either working in, or from, Scotland. There is a cash prize of £1000.


McLaren Award for New British Animation in partnership with BBC Film Network
This award provides a focus for new British animation and recognises the free spirit of creativity. This award will be supported in 2000 for the fourth year by BBC Film Network. There is a cash prize of £1000.

The Rotten Tomatoes Critical Consensus Award
Introduced in 2008 and judged by a panel of leading UK film critics, the award is presented to a film chosen from the Directors Showcase section of the Festival.

Short Film Nominee Edinburgh for the European Film Awards 2009
An initiative by the European Film Academy in association with the Edinburgh International Film Festival and a series of other festivals throughout Europe. One of the winning short films at EIFF will win a nomination for the European Film Academy Short Film 2009, to be presented at the 22nd European Film Awards on 5 December in Essen/Germany.


Images for the EIFF can be downloaded at www.edfilmfest.org.uk/press
The Edinburgh International Film Festival 17 - 28 June 2009

About the Edinburgh International Film Festival:
Since 1947, the Edinburgh International Film Festival has devoted itself to discovering and promoting the very best in international cinema - and to embracing, celebrating and debating changes and developments in the global film industry. Intimate in its scale, ambitious in its scope, and fuelled by pure passion for cinema in all its manifestations, EIFF seeks to expose the cutting edge of new film talent, in a setting steeped in history.
Notable films premiered in recent years have included: LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, SOMERS TOWN, MAN ON WIRE, WALL-E, CONTROL, THE COUNTERFEITERS, KNOCKED UP, A MIGHTY HEART, RATATOUILLE, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, LONDON TO BRIGHTON, TSOTSI, BILLY ELLIOT, AMORES PERROS, AMÉLIE and YOUNG ADAM.

The EIFF is supported by:
The UK Film Council through its Lottery supported Film Festival Fund.
The UK Film Council is the Government backed lead agency for film in the UK. They aim to make sure that the UK has a dynamic film industry fit for the digital age and to help UK audiences enjoy the best of British and world cinema.
Scottish Screen – the national development agency for the screen industries in Scotland.
EventScotland - the national events agency, working to make Scotland one of the world’s leading event destinations. www.eventscotland.org
City of Edinburgh Council
Homecoming Scotland 2009 - a year-long programme of events and activity celebrating many of Scotland's great contributions to the world and providing a platform for Scotland to re-connect with the many millions of people around the globe who have Scottish ancestry or affinity with the country. www.homecomingscotland2009.com
Cineworld is proud to be a sponsor of the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
Standard Life are delighted to continue their partner sponsorship of Edinburgh International Film Festival.