Nominations for the 2019 British Independent Film Awards have been unveiled. Set to take place December 1, this year’s ceremony will celebrate a number of women-directed titles, with Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir” scoring a whopping eight nods.
The Best British Independent Film category includes “The Souvenir,” a coming-of-age story about a film student in a destructive relationship with an older man, and Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts’ “For Sama,” a documentary that chronicles life in Aleppo through five years of the Syrian revolution. Hogg and al-Kateab and Watts are also up for Best Director.
Hogg is in the running for Best Screenplay, as is Nicole Taylor for “Wild Rose,” a portrait of a single mom and aspiring country singer living in Glasgow. Jessie Buckley stars in the pic, and is among the women up for Best Actress. Others include Renée Zellweger for Judy Garland biopic “Judy” and Holliday Grainger for “Animals,” a comedy about best friends whose relationship is at a crossroads.
Just one woman is up for the the Douglas Hickox Award for Debut Director, Harry Wootliff. She’s being recognized for “Only You,”a romance about a couple who meet by chance on New Year’s Eve. Wootliff is one of four women nominated in the Debut Screenwriter category — she’s joined by Taylor, Lisa Owens (“Days of the Bagnold Summer”), and Emma Jane Unsworth (“Animals”).
“For Sama” is nominated for Best Documentary, as is Jeanie Finlay’s “Seahorse,” the story of a transgender man’s path to parenthood.
Nominees for the Raindance Discovery Award include Shelly Love’s “A Bump Along the Way,” a comedy about a 44-year-old single mom who gets pregnant from a one-night stand; Zara Balfour and Marcus Stephenson’s “Children of the Snow Land,” a doc following children born in the High Himalayas of Nepal as they travel to school; and Andrea Luka Zimmerman and Adrian Jackson’s “Here for Life,” a doc that sees 10 Londoners sharing their stories.
The only woman-directed title up for Best International Independent Film is Céline Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” a period pic tracing the romance between an artist and the subject she’s hired to paint a portrait of.
Head over to Indiewire to check out all of the nominees.
