British Independent Film Awards 2006 Nominations
by Andre Soares
King and Queen rule the 2006 British Independent Film Awards nominations, which were announced on Wednesday, Oct. 25.
I couldn’t resist the pun, even though it’s not only bad but also inaccurate. In actuality, Shane Meadows’s This Is England, winner of the Special Jury Prize at this year’s RomeFilmFest, garnered 7 nods — one more than either Kevin Macdonald’s The Last King of Scotland or Stephen Frears’s The Queen. All three films received Best Picture nominations.
All three directors were also nominated, along with veteran Ken Loach for Cannes Film Festival winner The Wind That Shakes the Barley and Michael Caton Jones for Shooting Dogs. Loach’s war drama also garnered a Best Film nod, but the fifth slot went to Andrea Arnold’s mystery thriller Red Road.
In the acting categories, one can find the renowned (and expected) — Helen Mirren in The Queen, Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland, Peter O’Toole in Venus — next to lesser-known names, including Frances de la Tour in The History Boys, and both Tony Curran and Kate Dickie in Red Road. Veterans Vanessa Redgrave and Leslie Phillips received supporting nods for Venus.
Not surprisingly, Peter Morgan garnered two Best Screenplay nominations — for The Last King of Scotland (with Jeremy Brock) and The Queen.
Surprisingly, Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross’s docudrama The Road to Guantanamo received a Best Documentary nod — apparently it paid off to omit the film’s screenwriting credit (implying that what is shown on screen were mere reenactments of factual events).
Director-screenwriter Jeremy Brock’s Driving Lessons — including cast members Julie Walters, Rupert Grint, and Laura Linney — were ignored by the BIFA. And Helen Mirren aside, so were all cast members of The Queen.
The BIFA winners will be announced on Nov. 29 (the same day as the Gotham Awards).
London Film Festival News Via THE INDEPENDENT
Gotham Film Awards 2006 Nominations
THE DEPARTED (2006) - Film Review
Chicago Critics’ Scariest Films
Reeling - The 2006 Chicago Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival
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