Sameena Jabeen Ahmed has been named best British newcomer for her “fearless” performance in thriller Catch Me Daddy, about a girl on the run from her family in northern England at the London Film Festival on Saturday.
Stephen Frears was honoured with a fellowship of the British Film Institute (BFI), while the event’s official award was given to Russian movie Leviathan directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev. The 73-year-old filmmaker behind movies such as Philomena, The Queen and Dangerous Liaisons joked that the fellowship award made him feel “geriatric”.
The Sutherland Award, given to the most original and imaginative first feature, went to Ukrainian director Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy for The Tribe, a violent, silent drama set in a school for deaf-mute teenagers.
The Grierson Award for best documentary went to Silvered Water, Syria Self-Portrait, Wiam Simav Bedirxan and Ossama Mohammed’s film about the seige of the Syrian town of Homs.