British Independent Film Award nominees announced

British cinema has an unusual structure, with most of the industry working as service suppliers for the American studios, and a promising but fragile "independent" section. The British Independent Film Awards obviously showcase the latter, and feature a very strong line-up of nominees this year, which have just been announced:

BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM

An Education
Fish Tank
In The Loop
Moon
Nowhere Boy

BEST DIRECTOR

Sponsored by The Creative Partnership
Andrea Arnold – Fish Tank
Armando Iannucci – In The Loop
Duncan Jones – Moon
Jane Campion – Bright Star
Lone Scherfig – An Education

BEST SCREENPLAY

Sponsored by BBC Films
An Education – Nick Hornby
Fish Tank – Andrea Arnold
In The Loop – Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
Moon – Nathan Parker
Nowhere Boy – Matt Greenhalgh

70 members screened over 200 films to draw up the list of nominees. To get the complete list of nominees, visit Raindance.

"Journey to Algiers" picks up script award at Namur festival

Namur's French-speaking movie festival awarded the script prize to writer/director Abdelkrim Bahloul for "Le voyage à Alger/Journey to Algiers", the tale of an Algerian widow's struggle to hold on to her house and six orphans.

Bahloul was born in Algeria, studied in France and now works in both countries. His previous film, "Le soleil assassiné" picked up the audience award at Namur in 2003. For the full results (in French), visit FIFF.

MIPCOM kicks off in Cannes

The MIPCOM TV trade fair has kicked off in Cannes. Early news from the kids section is that short-formats are back in style, with a preference for live action. Established characters are being sought out (which is not such good news for people that want to try and create new ones). As scriptwriters it is important to keep an eye on these things, as I don't see the point in working for 18 months on a dead format.

Check for details on Cannes or Bust.