Ruby Stokes, Anastasia Dymitrow, Kosar Ali, Bukky Bakray, Tawheda Begum and Afi Okaidja in 'Rocks'. Courtesy Fable Pictures
Ruby Stokes, Anastasia Dymitrow, Kosar Ali, Bukky Bakray, Tawheda Begum and Afi Okaidja in 'Rocks'. Courtesy Fable Pictures
Ruby Stokes, Anastasia Dymitrow, Kosar Ali, Bukky Bakray, Tawheda Begum and Afi Okaidja in 'Rocks'. Courtesy Fable Pictures
Ruby Stokes, Anastasia Dymitrow, Kosar Ali, Bukky Bakray, Tawheda Begum and Afi Okaidja in 'Rocks'. Courtesy Fable Pictures

British Independent Film Awards: 'Rocks', Riz Ahmed and 'Limbo' among winners


Farah Andrews
  • English
  • Arabic

The British Independent Film Awards (Bifa) took place on Thursday, recognising the industry's best pictures and actors from 2020.

Harry Potter's Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy, presented the awards, with winners accepting the gongs from the comfort of their own homes.

The ceremony was available to livestream on Facebook and YouTube.

'Harry Potter' star Tom Felton presented the 2020 British Independent Film Awards. Courtesy Bifa
'Harry Potter' star Tom Felton presented the 2020 British Independent Film Awards. Courtesy Bifa

Rocks, starring Bukky Bakray, Kosar Ali and D'angelou Osei Kissiedu, won Best British Independent Film. The coming-of-age movie is about a teenage girl, Rocks (Bakray), who finds herself struggling to take care of herself and her younger brother, Emmanuel (Osei Kissiedu), when they are abandoned by their mother and forced to live on the streets.

The film also picked up the Best Casting award, and three actor awards: Ali was named Most Promising Newcomer and Best Supporting Actress, and Osei Kissiedu won Best Supporting Actor.

Another big winner on the night was Riz Ahmed. The British-Pakistani rapper and actor won Best British Short Film for The Long Goodbye, and Best Debut Screenwriter and Best Music for his film Mogul Mowgli.

Ahmed said on Twitter that he was "grateful for our wins", sharing a photo of himself dressed for an awards ceremony in his home.

His House, a Netflix film about a refugee couple who escape war-torn South Sudan and struggle to adjust to their new life in an English town, took home four awards for Best Director, Best Actress for Wunmi Mosaku, Best Production Design and Best Effects.

Limbo, a film with that shares themes with His House, won the Breakthrough Producer award for Irune Gurtubai. The film stars Egyptian-British actor Amir El-Masry as Omar, a promising young musician and one of four Syrian asylum seekers on a remote Scotland island who enrol in cultural awareness classes while they wait for their application for political asylum to be processed.

El-Masry was nominated for Best Actor but lost out to The Father's Anthony Hopkins.

The Father, which stars Olivia Colman opposite Hopkins, also won Best Screenplay and Best Editing.

To round off the evening, Perfect 10 won the Raindance Discovery Award, and Best Documentary and Best Sound awards went to The Reason I Jump.

Frances McDormand's Nomadland won Best International Independent Film; Saint Maud won Best Cinematography and the Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director for Rose Glass; and Misbehaviour, which stars Keira Knightley and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, won Best Costume Design and Best Make-Up & Hair Design.

In numbers

1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:

  • 800 tonnes converted into alternative fuel
  • 150 tonnes to landfill
  • 50 tonnes sold as scrap metal

800 tonnes of RDF replaces 500 tonnes of coal

Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year

25 staff on site

 

Results

1.30pm Handicap (PA) Dh50,000 (Dirt) 1,400m

Winner Al Suhooj, Saif Al Balushi (jockey), Khalifa Al Neyadi (trainer)

2pm Handicap (TB) 68,000 (D) 1,950m

Winner Miracle Maker, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer

2.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,600m

Winner Mazagran, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar

3pm Handicap (TB) Dh84,000 (D) 1,800m

Winner Tailor’s Row, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer

3.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh76,000 (D) 1,400m

Winner Alla Mahlak, Adrie de Vries, Rashed Bouresly

4pm Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,200m

Winner Hurry Up, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer

4.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,200m

Voices: How A Great Singer Can Change Your Life
Nick Coleman
Jonathan Cape

The Bio

Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”

Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”

Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”

Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”

THE BIO

Family: I have three siblings, one older brother (age 25) and two younger sisters, 20 and 13 

Favourite book: Asking for my favourite book has to be one of the hardest questions. However a current favourite would be Sidewalk by Mitchell Duneier

Favourite place to travel to: Any walkable city. I also love nature and wildlife 

What do you love eating or cooking: I’m constantly in the kitchen. Ever since I changed the way I eat I enjoy choosing and creating what goes into my body. However, nothing can top home cooked food from my parents. 

Favorite place to go in the UAE: A quiet beach.

Skoda Superb Specs

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Torque: 320Nm

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CHELSEA'S NEXT FIVE GAMES

Mar 10: Norwich(A)

Mar 13: Newcastle(H)

Mar 16: Lille(A)

Mar 19: Middlesbrough(A)

Apr 2: Brentford(H)

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
EPL's youngest
  • Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
    15 years, 181 days old
  • Max Dowman (Arsenal)
    15 years, 235 days old
  • Jeremy Monga (Leicester)
    15 years, 271 days old
  • Harvey Elliott (Fulham)
    16 years, 30 days old
  • Matthew Briggs (Fulham)
    16 years, 68 days old

The Florida Project

Director: Sean Baker

Starring: Bria Vinaite, Brooklynn Prince, Willem Dafoe

Four stars

The Vile

Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah

Director: Majid Al Ansari

Rating: 4/5

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg

Bayern Munich 1
Kimmich (27')

Real Madrid 2
Marcelo (43'), Asensio (56')

What is blockchain?

Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.

The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.

Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.

However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.

Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

THE%20SPECS
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Results

5pm: UAE Martyrs Cup (TB) Conditions Dh90,000 2,200m

Winner: Mudaarab, Jim Crowley (jockey), Erwan Charpy (trainer).

5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Handicap Dh70,000 1,400m

Winner: Jawal Al Reef, Richard Mullen, Hassan Al Hammadi.

6pm: UAE Matyrs Trophy (PA) Maiden Dh80,000 1,600m

Winner: Salima Al Reef, Jesus Rosales, Abdallah Al Hammadi.

6.30pm: Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak (IFAHR) Apprentice Championship (PA) Prestige Dh100,000 1,600m

Winner: Bainoona, Ricardo Iacopini, Eric Lemartinel.

7pm: Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak (IFAHR) Ladies World Championship (PA) Prestige Dh125,000 1,600m

Winner: Assyad, Victoria Larsen, Eric Lemartinel.

8pm: Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Jewel Crown (PA) Group 1 Dh5,000,000 1,600m

Winner: Mashhur Al Khalediah, Jean-Bernard Eyquem, Phillip Collington.

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