10/03/2008

After being largely ignored at the BAFTAs and the Oscars, Joe Wright’s war drama Atonement [+see also:
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film profile] won big at the annual Empire awards, picking up Best British Film and Best Actor and Actress for James McAvoy and Keira Knightley respectively.

Tim Bevan, co-producer of the film, said, “This is an absolutely amazing time in British cinema at the moment, which is mainly because we have such an amazing collection of British directors.”

Joy Division biopic Control [+see also:
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film profile] won a brace of awards, including Best Newcomer for Sam Riley and Best Soundtrack.

David Yates picked up the Best Director award for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [+see also:
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film profile], while zombie movie 28 Weeks Later [+see also:
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film profile] won the Best Horror Film prize.

This Is England [+see also:
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film profile] director Shane Meadows won the award for Outstanding Contribution to British Film while Scottish star Ewan McGregor was conferred an icon award.

“I’ve been so lucky to work with a great many talented and passionate actors and directors and occasionally producers,” said McGregor. “It’s very nice, I was very flattered by it, I didn’t choose the award,” he added.

In addition, Hot Fuzz [+see also:
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film profile] won Best Comedy and Stardust was named Best Sci-Fi Film. The Empire Inspiration Award went to Pan's Labyrinth [+see also:
film review
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film profile] director Guillermo del Toro.

The readers of popular magazine Empire vote for the awards. Speaking about the magazine, McAvoy said, “I used to get it all the time as a kid, I still get it now if I'm being honest... This year’s been amazing for intelligent film, for good film. What Empire has done is to tell people what to see and well done this year for getting people to see the good stuff.”