The winners of the 2023 British Independent Film Awards were announced live from Old Billingsgate, London on Sunday 3rd December 2023, with Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers earning the Best British Independent Film award on a successful night for the relationship drama.

In a ceremony hosted by Kiell Smith-Bynoe and Lolly Adefope, All of Us Strangers took home British Independent Film Awards for Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Music Supervision and Best Editing, with 2023 Oscar nominee Paul Mescal (Aftersun) being named the joint winner for Best Supporting Performance for his part in the film.

Justine Triet’s 2023 Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall was awarded the title of Best International Independent Film, earning the accolade over competing titles Fallen Leaves, Fremont, Monster and Past Lives.

Mia McKenna-Bruce won the award for Best Lead Performance for her part in How to Have Sex, with casting director Isabella Odoffin also earning an accolade for Best Casting.

The full list of 2023 British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs):

Best British Independent Film – All of Us Strangers
Femme
How to Have Sex
Rye Lane
Scrapper

Best International Independent Film sponsored by Champagne Taittinger – Anatomy of a Fall
Fallen Leaves
Fremont
Monster
Past Lives

Best Director sponsored by Sky Cinema – Andrew Haigh (All of Us Strangers)
Raine Allen-Miller (Rye Lane)
Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Femme)
Molly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex)
Charlotte Regan (Scrapper)

Best Screenplay sponsored by Apple Original Films – Andrew Haigh (All of Us Strangers)
Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia (Rye Lane)
Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Femme)
Molly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex)
Charlotte Regan (Scrapper)

Best Lead Performance – Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex)
Jodie Comer (The End We Start From)
Tia Nomore (Earth Mama)
Nabhaan Rizwan (In Camera)
Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers)
Tilda Swinton (The Eternal Daughter)

Best Supporting Performance – Paul Mescal (All of Us Strangers)
Ritu Arya (Polite Society)
Jamie Bell (All of Us Strangers)
Samuel Bottomley (How to Have Sex)
Alexandra Burke (Pretty Red Dress)
Amir El-Masry (In Camera)
Clair Foy (All of Us Strangers)
Alia Shawkat (Drift)
Shaun Thomas (How to Have Sex)
Katherine Waterston (The End We Start From)

Best Joint Lead Performance – Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, George MacKay (Femme)
Lola Campbell, Harris Dickinson (Scrapper)
David Jonsson, Vivian Oparah (Rye Lane)

The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) sponsored by BBC Film – Savanah Leaf (Earth Mama)
Raine Allen-Miller (Rye Lane)
Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Femme)
Holly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex)
Charlotte Regan (Scrapper)

Breakthrough Producer sponsored by Pinewood and Shepperton Studios – Theo Barrowclough (Scrapper)
Georgia Goggin (Pretty Red Dress)
Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo (Rye Lane)
Gannesh Rajah (If the Streets Were on Fire)
Chi Thai (Raging Grace)

Breakthrough Performance sponsored by Netflix – Vivian Oparah (Rye Lane)
Le’Shantey Bonsu (Girl)
Lola Campbell (Scrapper)
Priya Kansara (Polite Society)
Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex)

Best Debut Screenwriter sponsored by Film4 – Nida Manzoor (Polite Society)
Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia (Rye Lane)
Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping (Femme)
Molly Manning Walker (How to Have Sex)
Charlotte Regan (Scrapper)

Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary – Chloe Abrahams (The Taste of Mango)
Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn (Another Baby)
Ella Glendining (Is There Anybody Out There?)
Alice Russell (If the Streets Were on Fire)
Christopher Sharp (Bobi Wine: The People’s President)

The Raindance Maverick Award – If the Streets Were on Fire
Is There Anybody Out There?
Name Me Lawand
Raging Grace
Red Herring

Best Feature Documentary sponsored by Intermission Film – If the Streets Were on Fire
Another Body
Bobi Wine: The People’s President
Lyra
Occupied City

Best British Short Film – Festival of Slaps
Christopher At Sea
Lions
Muna
The Talent

Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society & Spotlight – Isabella Odoffin (How to Have Sex) 
Shaheen Baig (Scrapper)
Kharmel Cochrane (Rye Lane)
Kahleen Crawford (All of Us Strangers)
Salome Oggenfuss, Geraldine Barón, Abby Harri (Earth Mama)

Best Cinematography sponsored by Harbor & Kodak – Jamie D. Ramsay (All of Us Strangers)
Olan Collardy (Rye Lane)
Suzie Lavelle (The End We Start From)
Molly Manning Walker (Scrapper)
James Rhodes (Femme)

Best Costume Design – Buki Ebiesuwa (Femme)
George Buxton (How to Have Sex)
Oliver Cronk (Scrapper)
Cynthia Lawrence-John (Rye Lane)
PC Williams (The End We Start From)

Best Editing – Jonathan Alberts (All of Us Strangers) 
Victoria Boydell (Rye Lane)
Paul Carlin (Bobi Wine: The People’s President)
Avdhesh Mohla (High & Low – John Galliano)
Arttu Salmi (The End We Start From)

Best Effects – Jonathan Gales, Richard Baker (The Kitchen)
Paddy Eason (Polite Society)
Theodor Flo-Groeneboom (The End We Start From)

Best Music Supervision – Connie Farr (All of Us Strangers)
Ciara Elwis (Femme)
David Fish (Rye Lane)

Best Make-Up & Hair Design sponsored by The Wall Group – Marie Deehan (Femme)
Zoe Clare Brown (All of Us Strangers)
Claire Carter (Polite Society)
Natasha Lawes (How to Have Sex)
Bianca Simone Scott (Rye Lane)

Best Original Music sponsored by Universal Music Publishing Group – Kwes (Rye Lane)
Adam Janota Bzowski (Femme)
Patrick Jonsson (Scrapper)
Anna Meredith (The End We Start From)
Ré Olunuga (Girl)

Best Production Design sponsored by ATC & Broadsword – Nathan Parker (The Kitchen)
Laura Ellis Cricks (The End We Start From)
Sarah Finlay (All of Us Strangers)
Elena Muntoni (Scrapper)
Anna Rhodes (Rye Lane)

Best Sound supported by Halo – Mark Jenkin (Enys Men)
Scrapper
How to Have Sex
All of Us Strangers
The End We Start From

Per BIFA.

Femme (2023)
Directors: Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping
Screenwriters: Sam H. Freeman, Ng Choon Ping
Starring: Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, George MacKay

Joining the ever-growing list of short films that were adapted into feature length movies is Femme, the feature length directorial debut of directing duo Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping. Taking an original concept from a short eighteen minutes and stretching it out to over an hour is a difficult task that many fail to complete effectively, but Freeman and Ping succeed.

The film follows Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), a drag queen who suffers a horrifying homophobic attack at the hands of Preston (George MacKay) after one of his shows. It tells of the sexual relationship that begins months down the line once Jules has recovered and is no longer in his drag makeup.

Speaking after the UK premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), director Sam H. Freeman discussed the idea of trauma and the way in which our minds can take traumatic events and turn them into a form of pleasure as a defence mechanism; taking something that hurt us and that we had no control over and turning it into something we get some form of joy out of and can thus have agency over. It is this very idea that Femme focuses on, and is the line it constantly walks throughout the film. In walking this line, Femme highlights its strengths: the writing, the direction and the performances.

The writing is a particular strength of the film. It shows a great understanding of trauma and a deep knowledge of the human psyche. In portraying the attack that Jules undergoes at the hands of Preston at the beginning of the film in such a horrific way, it is daring to place Jules back in the presence of Preston, and this allows the tension of the piece to build throughout. We are constantly wondering, “will Preston remember Jules? Will Jules get his revenge? Will something else blossom between the two?” By placing Jules and Preston into such an intimate situation together, Femme has us worried about what Preston will do but also intrigued by the dynamic that exists between them.

This relationship would not work if it were not for the two fantastic performances at the head of the film by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and George MacKay. The writing certainly elevates their performances and provides them both with layers of character background and history, though their individual contributions equally elevate the material.

We see Jules in numerous situations with various different casts of characters and their own individual consequences, whether that be on stage and in drag, with Preston, or with Preston’s friends. We see Nathan Stewart-Jarrett perform different “characters” or “personalities” in each given situation, just as Jules would perform differently in his normal day-to-day life compared to his time on stage as a drag queen. And Stewart-Jarrett himself claimed that these different sides of Jules are signs of his past.

When Jules is around Preston’s friends he appears as a more traditional lad, fitting in with the group of hypermasculine men, which could be considered a sign of the character’s upbringing before he felt comfortable enough as a queer man. It is in these different masks, and through playing these different characters, that Stewart-Jarrett shines, showing not only an understanding of his lead protagonist but a depth with regard to his performance. 

MacKay, too, brings a fantastic performance to the table, transforming himself physically from the vulnerability exuded in the likes of Pride (2014) into an intimidating and dangerous man, a character who looks like a typical street thug but whom we soon realise is much more than that. Just as Jules plays multiple characters, so does MacKay’s Preston, the two practically their own unique versions of Clark Kent and Superman. The beauty of the writing is that Jules discovers this as we do.

It is in the chemistry between Stewart-Jarrett and MacKay, and particularly the scenes in which they share the spotlight, that the two actors really shine. They bounce off each other incredibly well and their individual performances work to emphasise the power dynamic and the tension that is written in the script. One of the best examples of this is an early date scene in which Preston takes Jules to a fancy restaurant and exhibits his more gentle, charming side; that which he clearly hides from his friends. Jules appears small in the frame, closed off and taking very little space at the table, whereas Preston appears larger than life, stretched out over his seat and his body open, taking up much more space and showing his power not just in that moment but in their dynamic overall. It is a scene in which script, direction, cinematography and performance come together to best serve the story.

This is one of many moments in which the first-time filmmakers behind Femme prove their understanding of the process and their ability to bring their idea to life. As a directorial duo, Freeman and Ping impress with their skill, bringing style to the film via neon lighting and brightly coloured clothing, wonderful imagery that uses juxtaposition to tell of the pleasure and trauma that are so prominent throughout the story, and directing wonderfully detailed lead performances that anchor the emotion held within the script. Femme is a wonderful film that is just as fun as it is horrific; an intriguing mix of trauma and pleasure.

2023 feature directorial debut Femme is a tightly packed punch of a film from two new directors expressing their boundless potential. Though some may find it difficult to see someone’s attacker placed in a position of both power and intimacy with the person they’ve attacked, those that can bear the more hard to watch scenes are in for a treat of a film that dives deep into human relationships and treats us to a great first feature.

Score: 18/24

Recommended for you: More Coverage from EIFF