Sam Rockwell in Moon
Duncan Jones' sci-fi thriller Moon — made for US$5 million, or about 1/zillionth of the cost of Star Trek, 2012, or Avatar — won best picture and best debut director honors at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) held this evening in London.
Written by Nathan Parker from Jones' original story (with shades of 2001: A Space Odyssey), Moon tells the story of a man (Sam Rockwell) living with a computer — that's GERTY — at a manufacturing base on the Moon, where one day he wakes up to discover that he isn't as alone as he thought. Worse yet, things have never actually been as he thought they were.
Jones, by the way, used to go by the moniker Zowie Bowie. Why the…? Simple: He's David Bowie's son.
Andrea Arnold was chosen best director for the family drama Fish Tank, which also earned Katie Jarvis (above) the best newcomer award. Arnold was one of three female nominees this year: The other two were Lone Scherfig for An Education and Jane Campion for Bright Star, which ended up winning only one award, for cinematographer Greig Fraser's "technical achievement."
The best screenplay award went to Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche for the political comedy In the Loop, directed by Iannucci, while the best foreign film was Tomas Alfredson's Let the Right One In, about a teen vampire. But unlike the Twilight movies featuring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, Alfredson's teen bloodsucker flick was made for adults. A year ago, Let the Right One In won tons of critics' awards in the US. (Note: Among BIFA's foreign-film losers was Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, winner of the Gotham Awards for best picture and best ensemble.)
The best documentary was Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson's Mugabe and the White African, about a white Zimbabwean farmer who challenged president Robert Mugabe's racist regime. The film is one of the semi-finalists for the 2010 Academy Awards.
Sam Rockwell for the Oscars!!!!