BIFAS 2010: The nominations

'The King's Speech', 'Four Lions', 'Never Let Me Go' and 'The Arbor' lead this year's race for British Independent Film Award silverwear

The nominations for this year’s British Independent Film Awards have been announced, with London Film Festival highlight ‘The King’s Speech’ – featuring Colin Firth as a stuttering King George VI – leading the pack with no less than eight nods.

The Best Film category displays the breadth of this year’s homegrown crop: alongside Tom Hooper’s crowd pleasing period drama there’s sci-fi (‘Monsters’), comic-book action (‘Kick-Ass’), dour dystopian fantasy (‘Never Let Me Go’) and broad political comedy (‘Four Lions’).

The same films also dominate the two directing categories: four of the helmers find themselves in the Best Director category alongside stalwart Mike Leigh (‘Another Year’), while first-timer Chris Morris slots neatly into the nominations for the Douglas Hickox Award for Debut Director along with impressive newcomers like Clio Barnard (‘The Arbor’) and Rowan Joffe (‘Brighton Rock’). The director of ‘Monsters’, Gareth Edwards, has doubled his chances of a win by being nominated in both categories.

The acting nominations are a who’s who of Brit thespian talent, with the obvious contenders like Firth, Jim Broadbent (‘Another Year’) and Sally Hawkins (‘Made in Dagenham’) sitting alongside up-and-comers like Riz Ahmed (‘Four Lions’), Majinder Virk (‘The Arbor’) and Time Out favourite Aiden Gillen (‘Treacle Jr’). We’d also like to see some recognition for the stunning debut performance from Connor McCarron in Peter Mullan’s remarkable ‘Neds’, in the Most Promising Newcomer category.

Further down the list, we assume experimental masterpiece ‘The Arbor’ must have the Best Documentary category in the bag (but why no Best Film nom?), while the inventive homegrown SFX in ‘Monsters’ should have the loosely defined Technical Achievement category sewn up. The Best Foreign Film list seems dominated by last year’s LFF winner ‘A Prophet’, but that feels like old news now. Other contenders include ‘I Am Love’ and ‘Dogtooth’.

The festival jury has also been announced, a wide-ranging collection of actors, writers, directors, producers and film experts including ‘Watchmen’ star Matthew Goode and ‘Control’ screenwriter Matt Greenhalgh.

The awards ceremony takes place on Sunday November 5, and will once again be hosted by omnipresent TV charmer James Nesbitt.

Here are the full list of nominations: (We've also put stars next to the titles we'd like to see walk away with silverwear)

Best British Independent Film
Four Lions *
Kick-Ass
The King's Speech
Monsters
Never Let Me Go
 
Best Director
Mike Leigh – Another Year *
Matthew Vaughn – Kick-Ass
Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech
Gareth Edwards – Monsters
Mark Romanek – Never Let Me Go

The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director
Debs Gardner Paterson – Africa United
Clio Barnard – The Arbor *
Rowan Joffe – Brighton Rock
Chris Morris – Four Lions
Gareth Edwards – Monsters

Best Screenplay
Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, Simon Blackwell, Christopher Morris – Four Lions *
Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn – Kick-Ass
David Seidler – The King’s Speech
William Ivory – Made In Dagenham
Alex Garland – Never Let Me Go

Best Actress
Manjinder Virk – The Arbor
Ruth Sheen – Another Year
Andrea Riseborough – Brighton Rock
Sally Hawkins – Made In Dagenham *
Carey Mulligan – Never Let Me Go

Best Actor
Jim Broadbent – Another Year
Riz Ahmed – Four Lions
Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
Scoot McNairy – Monsters
Aidan Gillen – Treacle Jr *

Best Supporting Actor
Lesley Manville – Another Year *
Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
Rosamund Pike – Made In Dagenham
Keira Knightley – Never Let Me Go
Tamsin Greig – Tamara Drewe

Best Supporting Actor
Kayvan Novak – Four Lions
Guy Pearce – The King’s Speech
Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech *
Bob Hoskins – Made In Dagenham
Andrew Garfield – Never Let Me Go

Most Promising Newcomer
Manjinder Virk – The Arbor
Andrea Riseborough – Brighton Rock
Tom Hughes – Cemetery Junction
Joanne Froggatt – In Our Name
Conor McCarron – Neds *

Best Achievement in Production
The Arbor *
In Our Name
Monsters
Skeletons
Streetdance 3D

Raindance Award
Brilliant Love
Jackboots On Whitehall
Legacy
Son Of Babylon
Treacle Jr *

Best Technical Achievement
The Arbor – Sound – Tim Barker
Brighton Rock – Cinematography – John Mathieson *
The Illusionist – Animation – Sylvain Chomet
The King’s Speech – Production Design – Eve Stewart
Monsters – Visual Effects – Gareth Edwards

Best Documentary
The Arbor
Enemies of the People
Exit Through the Gift Shop *
Fire In Babylon
Waste Land

Best Foreign Film
Dogtooth
I Am Love *
A Prophet
The Secret In Their Eyes
Winter’s Bone

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