Somers Town takes top Edinburgh honour
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Shane Meadows’ Somers Town has won the Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF).
The Jury citation read: “It is a great pleasure to recognise Somers Town as the freshest, most imaginative, maverick work deserving of the Michael Powell Award.
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The PPG Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film went to Robert Carlyle for Summer. The Jury cited, “It is our great pleasure in the category of best actor/actress to recognise a flawless performance in a great, uncompromising film, a film that touches the heart – and at the film’s heart a triumph of a performance by an actor who inspired all of us.”
The Standard Life Audience Award went to James Marsh’s Man on Wire while Werner Herzog’s Encounters at the End of the World won the Best Documentary Award. Marianna Palka won the Skillset New Directors Award for Good Dick; Daniel Mulloy’s Son won the UK Film Council (UKFC) Award for Best British Short Film; and Conor McCormack’s Christmas With Dad won the Scottish Short Documentary Award.
UKFC CEO John Woodward said, “An exciting end to what has been an exciting festival. Many congratulations to Shane Meadows who goes from strength to strength. With Somers Town Shane has done what he does best, which is creating simple yet powerful stories enriched by an unerring ability to draw naturalistic performances from his cast.
“It’s also great to see Lottery-supported films gain recognition with continued and much deserved success for James Marsh in winning the audience award for his fantastic documentary Man on Wire and Robert Carlyle on his award for Kenny Glenaan’s Summer, both films supported by our New Cinema Fund.”
Naman Ramachandran