Elsinore, Simon Stone’s drama starring Andrew Scott as the actor Ian Charleson, leads the British Independent Film Award nominations with 12, topping a field that includes Clio Barnard’s I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning and Ashley Walters’ directorial debut Animol.
Scott plays Charleson during his final months in 1990, as he takes on Hamlet while dying of Aids. The film earned nominations for best British independent film, best director for Stone and best lead performance for Scott. Olivia Colman, Billie Piper and Johnny Flynn co-star, and Piper is nominated for best supporting performance. The film premiered at Telluride in September and opened the BFI London Film Festival in October. The Guardian reports that Scott is a tipped Oscar favorite and would be the first out gay man to win best actor. Focus Features releases the film in the United States on November 20, and StudioCanal follows in Britain on January 29.
Barnard’s Birmingham ensemble drama about five friends reaching 30 collected eight nominations, among them best picture, director and ensemble performance. It won the People’s Choice Award at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in May, and the Guardian’s chief critic praised its “contaminated euphoria.”
Animol has seven. Walters, known for Top Boy and Adolescence, is up for best debut director, and lead Tut Nyuot appears in the lead performance and breakthrough categories. The Welsh-language Effi o Blaenau and Lance Hammer’s Queen at Sea each received six. Mike Leigh’s Tender Loving Care, his final film, has four.
The five best-film nominees are Effi o Blaenau, Elsinore, I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, Queen at Sea and Tender Loving Care. The acting categories carry no gender split. Scott will compete for lead performance against Juliette Binoche, Erin Doherty, Leisa Gwenllian, Jonathan Jules and Nyuot.
Venues have their own category. The cinema of the year nominees include Campus West in Welwyn Garden City and the Ultimate Picture Palace in Oxford, whose landlord, Oriel College, has refused to extend its lease. The Magic Lantern in Tywyn, Wales, won the inaugural award last year.
Winners will be announced December 6 at the Roundhouse in London.
