Andrea Arnold’s Cannes-bowing hit American Honey scooped the top prizes at the British Independent Film Awards, held Sunday evening in London with Absolutely Fabulous‘ Jennifer Saunders on hosting duty.
The drama won four awards, including best British independent film, best director, best actress for newcomer Sasha Lane and outstanding achievement in craft for cinematographer Robbie Ryan.
Under the Shadow, Babak Anvari’s celebrated Farsi-language horror pic, was close behind with three awards, winning debut director and best screenplay gongs for Anvari as well as best supporting actress honors for nine-year-old Avin Manshadi. The film is the U.K.’s submission for the foreign-language Oscar race.
Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake — which also featured the camera skills of Ryan and edged out American Honey to snag the Palme d’Or at Cannes — collected best actor honors for Dave Johns, while his co-star Hayley Squires claimed the most promising newcomer title.
Elsewhere on the night, Oscar-tipped Moonlight scooped up the best international independent film award; best supporting actor honors went to Brett Goldstein for the comedy Adult Life Skills (which also earned writer-director Rachel Tunnard the inaugural debut screenwriter prize); Camille Gatin won the the breakthrough producer award for The Girl With All the Gifts; and Notes on Blindness walked away with the best documentary award.
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