Edinburgh Film Festival names 2016 prizewinners

Edinburgh International Film Festival has announced the winners of its annual awards, including its Michael Powell Award, McLaren Award and best international film

Feature by News Team | 24 Jun 2016

As the 70th Edinburgh International Film Festival nears its close, its juries have put their heads together to choose the prize winners from the extensive and varied selection of shorts, documentaries and features they saw.

Pikadero wins EIFF Michael Powell Award

Each year EIFF award the Michael Powell Award, named after the great director of The Red Shoes and Peeping Tom, to the best British film in the programme. Past winners include Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years, Duncan Jones’s Moon and David Mackenzie’s Young Adam. This year’s jury, who comprised of Kim Cattrall, Spanish filmmaker and actress Icíar Bollaín and Highlander star Clancy Brown, awarded the prize to Scottish filmmaker Ben Sharrock’s directorial debut, Pikadero, an absurdist romantic comedy set in the Basque country.

The Michael Powell Jury said: “We wanted to recognise the very personal and individual voice of director Ben Sharrock for his film Pikadero. In a year when the jury viewed a selection of very distinctive and different films his film really stood out.”


Michael Powell Award winner Pikadero

Ben Sharrock said: “I am absolutely thrilled and honoured to receive the Michael Powell Award. It is an incredible feeling. It is so valuable to have this kind of recognition for Pikadero in the UK. It is awards and recognition like this that help us get the film out to as wide an audience as possible. We have been lucky enough to screen Pikadero in different countries around the world but it has been a very special experience having the UK Premiere here at EIFF and showing it to audiences in my home city.”

The jurors also gave a special mention to Brakes, directed by Mercedes Grower, which received its world premiere at the festival. The award for best actor in a British film went to Catrin Stewart for her role in Welsh revenge theriller The Library Suicides, with a special mention going to David Sillars for his role in Seat in Shadow.

Suntan named Best International Feature Film


EIFF Best International Film: Suntan

This award, chosen by Angus Macfadyen, Sadie Frost and Screen International editor Matt Mueller, went to Greek film Suntan, from Argyris Papadimitropoulos. “While there were many outstanding films in the international competition,” said the jury, “Suntan is the title that really resonated with us. Argyris Papadimitropolous’s film is a compelling and unflinching portrait of one man’s journey from infatuation to desperation, marked out by a truly great performance from its lead actor, Efthymis Papadimitriou.”

Papadimitropoulos says that receiving an award from EIFF means a great deal to him: "Back in the late '90s I was a student in the UK. All the films that were awarded in the Edinburgh International Film Festival were part of the conversation among us. We would go and watch everything with an Edinburgh laurel on the poster. Little did I know that 15 years later I would be so honoured as to be the recipient of such an award. I can't wait to print new posters. Thank you to the lovely people of the Festival and the amazing jury, I could not be happier."

Shadow World wins Best Documentary


EIFF's Best Doc: Shadow World

Best doc prize went to Johan Grimonprez’s Shadow World, described in the programme as “a cinematic documentary that reveals the shocking realities of the global arms trade.” The jury, comprised of veteran producer Steve Abbott, Fife-native actor Dougray Scott and film executive Tejinder Jouhal, called the film a “particularly powerful, poignant and provocative documentary, that asked critical questions that continue to resonate. Director Johan Grimonprez and writer Andrew Feinstein pose the essential question: will we be allowed to choose peace over the business of war?”

Best Short – Before Love


EIFF's Best Short Film: Before Love

Igor Kovalyov’s Before Love was awarded best short film, with Gavin Scott Whitfield’s Murderous Injustice receiving a special mention from the jurors, made up of producer Rebecca Mark-Lawson, film development executive Hilary Davis and filmmaker Ashley Horner. They noted that Before Love stood out “because the director gave us a unique cinematic experience. Beautiful and stylish animation explored a bizarre love triangle with a fascinating female lead.”

The McLaren Award goes to Simon's Cat film


EIFF's McLaren Award: Simon's Cat – Off to the Vet

The McLaren Award, named after great Scottish-Canadian animator Norman McLaren, recognises the best British animation in the programme and went to Simon Tofield’s Off to the Vet, the latest in his much-loved Simon’s Cat series.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople, the new film from What We Do In The Shadows director Taika Waititi, was the winner of the Festival’s Audience Award following a vote from festival-goers.


EIFF runs 15-26 Jun http://edfilmfest.org.uk