BBC Films sweep the board at BIFAs

BBC Films co-productions virtually swept the board at last night's British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs), winning seven of the most prestigious feature film awards.
Stephen Frears' 'Dirty Pretty Things' led the way with four awards, including Best British Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor), and the Best Screenplay Award for Steve Knight. Dirty Pretty Things is a Miramax Films and BBC Films presentation of a Celador production.
Michael Winterbottom's 'In This World' picked up two BIFAs - Best Achievement in Production, and Peter Christelis collecting the Best Technical Achievement award for his editing work on the film. In This World is a Film Consortium and BBC Films in association with the UK Film Council presentation of a Revolution Films production.
In addition, Olivia Williams won the Best Actress prize for her performance in Thaddeus O'Sullivan's 'The Heart Of Me'. The Heart Of Me is an MP Production, presented by BBC Films in association with Take 3, Isle of Man Film Commission and Pandora.
The number of awards won reflects a highly impressive conversion rate from the sixteen BIFA nominations achieved by BBC Films productions.
Nominees included Kate Ashfield (This Little Life) and Helena Bonham Carter (The Heart of Me) in the Best Actress category; Sophie Okonedo (Dirty Pretty Things) and Benedict Wong (Dirty Pretty Things) for Best Supporting Actor/Actress; Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dirty Pretty Things) and Romola Garai (I Capture the Castle) for most Promising Newcomer; Michael Winterbottom (In This World) for Best Director; Sarah Gavron (This Little Life) for the Douglas Hickox Award, and sound engineers Tim Alban, Joakin Sundstrom and Stuart Wilson (In This World) for Best Technical Achievement.
"This is a fantastic achievement," said David Thompson, head of BBC Films. "Congratulations to all our nominees and winners."
(GB)