December 9, 2013 - 13:59 AMT
Philippines-set "Metro Manila" wins British Independent Film Awards

The UK’s Foreign Language Oscar entry, Metro Manila, had the biggest haul at British Independent Film Awards, nabbing three prizes including Best Film, and Director for Sean Ellis, Deadline said.

The Tagalog-language, Philippines-set drama centers on a poor farmer who moves his family to the capital city in search of a better life, only to unwittingly become mixed up with a criminal underworld after he takes a job as an armored transport driver.

In May, Deadline reported that Fox International Productions had acquired remake rights to the Sundance Audience Award winner.

James McAvoy was named Best Actor for Jon S. Baird’s Filth, a crime comedy based on the novel by Irvine Welsh. Lindsay Duncan was Best Actress for Roger Michell’s Le Week-End and Imogen Poots took the Best Supporting Actress prize for The Look Of Love. Although it had eight nominations coming into the evening, David Mackenzie’s prison drama Starred Up went home with only one when Ben Mendelsohn scooped the Best Supporting Actor trophy.

The BIFAs were held at London’s Old Billingsgate Market where the ceremony is somewhat akin to the Golden Globes. Host James Nesbitt early on commented the BIFAs are “’better than BAFTA, more arty than the Oscars, and less Nazi than the GQ awards.”