British Independent Film Nominations

BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM
Senna
Shame
Tinker Tailor Solider Spy
Tyrannosaur
We Need to Talk About Kevin

BEST DIRECTOR
Tomas Alfredson, Tinker Tailer Solider Spy
Paddy Considine, Tyrannosaur
Steve McQueen, Shame
Lynne Ramsay, We Need to Talk About Kevin
Ben Wheatley, Kill List

THE DOUGLAS HICKOX AWARD (BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR)
Richard Ayoade, Submarine
Paddy Considine, Tyrannosaur
Joe Cornish, Attack the Block
Ralph Fiennes, Coriolanus
John Michael McDonagh, The Guard

BEST ACTOR
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Brendan Gleeson, The Guard
Niel Maskell, Kill List
Peter Mullan, Tyrannosaur
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Solider Spy

BEST ACTRESS
MyAnna Buring, Kill List
Olivia Coleman, Tyrannosaur
Rebecca Hall, The Awakening
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
Mia Wasikowska, Jane Eyre

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Benedict Cumberbatch, Tinker Tailor Solider Spy
Tom Hardy, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Eddie Marsan, Tyrannosaur
Ezra Miller, We Need to Talk About Kevin
Michael Smiley, Kill List

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Kathy Burke, Tinker Tailor Solider Spy
Sally Hawkins, Submarine
Felicity Jones, Albatross
Carey Mulligan, Shame
Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus

BEST SCREENPLAY
The Guard- John Michael McDonagh
Kill List- Ben Wheatley & Amy Jump
Shame- Abi Morgan & Steve McQueen
Submarine- Richard Ayoade
We Need to Talk About Kevin- Lynne Ramsay & Rory Kinnear

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION
Kill List
Tyrannosaur
Weekend
Wild Bill
You Instead

BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT
Senna- Chris King & Gregors Sall (Film Editing)
Shame- Sean Bobbitt (Cinematography)
Shame- Joe Walker (Film Editing)
Tinker Tailor Solider Spy- Maria Djurkovic (Production Design)
We Need to Talk About Kevin- Seamus McGarvey (Cinematography)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Hell & Back Again
Life in a Day
Project Nim
Senna
TT3D: Closer to the Edge

BEST FOREIGN INDEPENDENT FILM
Animal Kingdom
Drive
Pina
A Seperation
The Skin I Live In

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER
John Boyeda, Attack the Block
Tom Cullen, Weekend
Jessica Brown Findlay, Albatross
Yasmin Page, Submarine
Craig Roberts, Submarine

The huge favorites were Shame, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Tyrannosaur, all earning seven nods from the British Independent Film Awards, and while Oscars are hardly at stake at this point, it certainly raises the profiles of a few titles.  Notably all three of those films will have an awards push and open in the next two months stateside, as well as other favorites We Need to Talk About Kevin (which earned six nods, after much acclaim from its Cannes debut, but little hardware to speak off since), and The Guard, which had a successful art-house run this past summer (despite being kinda bad...Brendan Gleeson is terrific is always however.)  Really the only obscure multi-nominated flick is Kill List, but perhaps BAFTA will shine some light on this one later on.

Of the films nominated it's strange that a wonder like Weekend only received two nods (for Achievement in Production, whatever that means, and Tom Cullen for Most Promising Newcomer), and while those nods are worthy, it's a shame that the British Independent Film community didn't heap more praise, though they clear saw it.  There was room enough however to acknowledge films like Submarine (an art-house dud stateside last June), as well the cheekily fun genre mash-up Attack the Block, as well as some Shakespeare (Ralph Fiennes' directorial debut Coriolanus scored two nominations.)

What's always notable is that they combine all the technical categories into one (Best Technical Achivement), I wonder what the Oscar world would look like if all the tech categories slipped in...would we have five nominations for War Horse comes year end (Shame scored two in that category)...the always thinking AMPAS might cut it out for more TV time...a truly horrible thought!

Coolest recognition: Drive earns its first nomination of the season, in the category of Best Foreign Independent Film...those cheeky Brits-- the English language I'm sure was the most foreign of all!