Awards News from London and Paris

Rachel Weisz is having a very good year. As noted a couple of weeks ago, when the Gotham Awards are presented in New York on November 26, she’ll receive this year’s Actress Tribute and share a special jury award for ensemble performance with Olivia Colman and Emma Stone for their work in Yorgos Lanthimos’s romp through the court of Queen Anne, The Favourite. Today, the British Independent Film Award nominations were announced and not only does The Favourite lead with thirteen but Weisz has been nominated twice. She’s up for best supporting actress (along with Stone) for The Favourite and for best actress as well for her performance as a photographer who returns to her Orthodox Jewish community in Sebastián Lelio’s Disobedience.

Roughly speaking, the BIFAs, founded in 1998 to “reward the best, most innovative, and creative independent filmmaking and filmmakers in the UK,” are to the British Academy Film Awards (the BAFTAs) what the Independent Spirit Awards are to the Oscars. After The Favourite, Bart Layton’s heist film American Animals, Michael Pearce’s thriller Beast, and Lynne Ramsay’s nightmarish You Were Never Really Here follow with eleven, ten, and eight nominations, respectively. The British Film Institute notes that 40 percent of the nominations recognize the work of women throughout the industry. You’ll find the full list here.