It was a star-studded affair at the British Independent Film Awards on Sunday night.
A host of the hottest talent in the U.K. and beyond took to the Roundhouse in Camden for indie cinema’s biggest night of the year. Among the top winners were Pillion director Harry Lighton, I Swear frontman Robert Aramayo and breakout star of Steve, Jay Lycurgo. Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value nabbed best international feature film while Akinola Davies Jr. won the best director prize.
There were even more big names on the carpet as Harris Dickinson, Alexander Skarsgard, Ruth Wilson, Carey Mulligan, Harry Melling, Frank Dillane, Tom Blyth, David Jonsson, and others showed up either as nominees or to fly the flag for the British film industry.
The cast of Alex Garland’s A24 hit Warfare, including Joseph Quinn, Will Poulter, Kit Connor and Charles Melton, were also in attendance to pick up their best ensemble performance award. The movie rivalled Pillion in awards tallies with four wins in total.
The evening took an emotional turn when Paul Mescal made a surprise appearance to present his Hamnet co-star Emily Watson with the Richard Harris Award, given out to actors in celebration of their contribution to British film.
Mescal, who took home the supporting performance BIFA in 2023 for All of Us Strangers, caught up with The Hollywood Reporter on the carpet ahead of the ceremony, where he revealed his favourite cinematic experience of 2025.
“One Battle After Another,” he said. “[A] great cinema-going experience. Paul Thomas Anderson is a genius. The acting in it is phenomenal. It’s my favorite Leo [DiCaprio] performance, I think.” When asked if he’d answer an incoming call from PTA, the Gladiator 2 and Aftersun star replied, laughing: “Is the sky blue? Of course, yeah. I would love to [work with him]… I’m like, ‘Call me, please!’”
Watson was tearful as she accepted the Richard Harris Award from her two-time co-star, who lauded her talent and generosity.
The Oscar-nominated actress told her fellow creatives: “What you have to do is you have to reach out to those coming behind you, and you have to build relationships with younger colleagues, less certain of their path than you are. And that is actually the most rewarding part of the job, and it will ensure that we can help keep holding the algorithm to the fire.”