Pillion, a kinky BDSM romantic comedy about a plucky biker played by Alexander Skarsgård who finds his new submissive in a timid wallflower played by Harry Melling, has won top honors at the British Independent Film Awards.
Writer/director Harry Righton’s debut feature Pillion (which screened at Cannes earlier this year and will be released in the US on A24) also won Best Debut Screenplay. These join previously announced Craft awards for Best Costume Design and Best Makeup and Hair Design in a Motion Picture.
The awards ceremony, held at London’s Roundhouse on Sunday, brought together the British and international film world. Some of the guest presenters included Carey Mulligan, Stephen Merchant, Ruth Wilson, Celia Imrie and Billy Crudup.
Akinola Davis Jr.’s Nigeria-set My Father’s Shadow led the nominations with 11, but it was also a directorial debut that bowed to Cannes, and like Pillion, produced by Irish powerhouse Element Pictures, it may have only won one. But the win was the Best Director award.
Elsewhere on the night, Robert Aramayo won Best Actor in a Gender-Neutral Performance category for his acclaimed portrayal of a Tourette athlete in the indie hit “I Swear” (beating out Jennifer Lawrence, among others). Meanwhile, rising British star Jay Ricargo was recently named in Variety magazine’s list of actors to watch, and received the highest praise for his role as a troubled young man in the high-pressure school drama “Steve.”
BIFA often serves as a bellwether for future talent both in front of and behind the camera, and at the ceremony, Cal McMaw won Best Debut Director for The Wasteman, Dheeraj Mahay won Breakthrough Producer for Ush, and Posey Stirling won Breakthrough Acting for Lollipop.
See the complete list of winners below.
British Independent Film Awards
“The Ballad of Wallis Island”
“i swear”
“Father’s Shadow”
“Pirion” (WINNER)
“Sea urchin”
best lead performance
Robert Aramayo “I Promise” (Winner)
Frank Dillane “Uni”
David Johnson “The Wasteman”
Jennifer Lawrence “Die My Love”
Harry Melling “Pillion”
Cillian Murphy “Steve”
best support performance
Tom Bryce “The Wasteman”
Scott Ellis Watson “I swear”
Jay Ricargo “Steve” (winner)
Peter Mullan “I swear”
Maxine Peake “I Swear”
Alexander Skarsgård “Pillion”
Best joint lead performance
Ebada Hassan, Safiyah Ingar “The Bride”
Tim Key, Tom Basden “The Ballad of Wallis Island” (winner)
Andrea Riseborough, Brenda Blethyn “Dragonfly”
Best Director Award
Laura Carreira “On Falling”
Akinola Davis Jr. “My Father’s Shadow” (WINNER)
Kirk Jones “I Swear”
Harry Righton “Pillion”
Lynne Ramsay “Die My Love”
Best Screenplay Award
Tom Basden, Tim Key “The Ballad of Wallis Island” (winner)
Laura Carreira “On Falling”
Wale Davis “Father’s Shadow”
Kirk Jones “I Swear”
Harry Righton “Pillion”
Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director
Laura Carreira “On Falling”
Akinola Davis Jr. “Father’s Shadow”
Harris Dickinson “Surchin”
Harry Righton “Pillion”
Cal McMaw “Wasteman” (winner)
groundbreaking producer
Wynn Baptiste “Shoot the People”
Charlotte Knowles “Palestinian Comedy Club”
Joan Kushner “Life Hack” (also produced by Timur Bekmambetov and Alexander Kretsov)
Dheeraj Mahay “Ish” (also produced by Bennett McGee) (WINNER)
Archie Partch “Urchin” (also produced by Scott O’Donnell)
breakthrough performance
Scott Ellis Watson “I swear”
Ebada Hassan “Bride”
Safiyah Inger “Bride”
Posey Sterling “Lollipop” (winner)
Connor Tompkins “The Son and the Sea”
Best debut screenwriter
Hunter Andrews, Eoin Dolan “The Wasteman”
Tom Basden, Tim Key “The Ballad of Wallis Island”
Laura Carreira “On Falling”
Wale Davis “Father’s Shadow”
Harry Righton “Pillion” (WINNER)
Best feature documentary award
“The Antidote” — James Jones, David Moulton
“Mother Bella” — Cecil Embleton, Alice Tomlinson, Laura Shacham
“Motherboard” — Victoria Mapplebeck
“The Shepherd and the Bear” — Max Keegan, Elizabeth Woodward, Amanda McBain, Jesse Moss
“A Want in Her” — Myrid Curtain, Tadhg O’Sullivan, Roisin Geraghty, Kat Mansour (winner)
Best Debut Director Award – Feature Documentary
Milid Curtain “A Want in Her” (winner)
Cecil Embleton, Alice Tomlinson “Mother Vera”
Victoria Mapplebeck “Motherboard”
Raindance Maverick Award
“Vile Deeds” Richard Hunter
Holloway Sophie Compton, Daisy-Mae Hudson, Stella Heath Keir, Alice Hughes, Polly Creed
“Mother Bella” Cecil Embleton, Alice Tomlinson, Laura Shacham
“Motherboard” Victoria Mapplebeck
“A Want in Her” Milid Curtain (winner)
Best International Independent Film
“It was just an accident.”
“Sentimental Value” (WINNER)
“Silaat”
“Sorry, baby.”
“Falling sound”
best casting
Shaheen Baig “Bride”
Shaheen Baig “Uni”
Carmel Cochran “War”
Lauren Evans “I Swear” (winner)
Robert Stern “Steve”
Best Cinematography Award
Charlotte Bruce Christensen “H is for Hawk”
Jermaine Edwards “Father’s Shadow”
Cecil Embleton “Mother Vera”
Seamus McGarvey “Die My Love” (WINNER)
Piotr Niemiski “Pale View of the Hills”
Best Costume Design Award
Susie Coulthard “100 Nights of Heroism”
Kirsty Halliday “Tornado”
Grace Snell “Pillion” (winner)
Sayaka Takahashi, Matthew Price “A Pale View of Hills”
PC Williams “Father’s Shadow”
Best editing award
Ronan Corrigan, Alexander Kretsov, “Life Hack”
Omar Guzmán Castro “Shadow of the Father”
Finn Oates “Warfare” (winner)
Sam Rice-Edwards “One to One: John and Yoko”
Gareth C. Scales “Pillion”
best effect
Simon Stanley Crump, Ryan Conder, “Warfare” (winner)
Victor Tomi “Die My Love”
Hayley Williams, Conor O’Sullivan, Martin Malmqvist “The Thing with Feathers”
Best music supervision
Phil Canning “The Wasteman”
Ian Neil, Rafe Burchell “Die My Love” (WINNER)
Bridget Samuels “Urchin”
Best Makeup & Hair Design Award
Kehinde Ale, Faizo Oyebishi “Father’s Shadow”
Diandra Ferreira “Pillion” (winner)
Paul Gooch, Tristan Versluis “War”
Colleen LaBuff, Miho Suzuki “Die My Love”
Natasha Rose “100 Nights of a Hero”
Best Original Music Award
Tom Basden, Adem Ilhan “The Ballad of Wallis Island” (winner)
Bobby Krulik “Anemone”
Jed Kurzel “Tornado”
CJ Milla, Duvall Timothy “Father’s Shadow”
Stephen Price “Ocean with David Attenborough”
Best Production Design Award
Jennifer Antti, Pablo Antti “Father’s Shadow”
Mark Digby “Warfare”
Tim Grimes “Die My Love”
Nathan Parker “Harvest” (winner)
Sofia Sacomani “One Hundred Nights of Heroes”
best sound
Steve Fanagan, Stevie Haywood “Anemone”
Tim Burns, Paul Davis, Linda Forsen, Andrew Stark, Ron Oshiowy “Die My Love”
Nina Hartstone, Jake Whiteley, Jens Petersen, Mike Tehrani, Rob Davidson, “Ish”
CJ Milla, James Ridgway, Joe Jackson, Adele Fletcher, Pius Fatke “My Father’s Shadow”
Glenn Freemantle, Mitch Lowe, Howard Bergloff, Ben Barker, Richard Spooner “Warfare” (winner)
Best British Short Film Award
“The Flock” — Mac Nixon, Matt Ashwell, Daily Nixon
“Majid/Zafar” — Louis Hyndman, Sufiyaan Salam, Aidan Robert Brooks (winner)
“A Sisyphean Task” — Gus Frind-Henry, George Mulcher, George Telfer
“Stomach Bug” — Matty Crawford, Karima Samot Canelopoulou
“Two Black Boys in Paradise” — Ben Jackson, Buzz Sells, Dean Atta
Cinema of the Year
depot cinema
Magic Lantern Cinema (WINNER)
montrose playhouse
Queen’s Film Theater
basin
