I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning wins Best Film at the Dinard British & Irish Film Festival
by David Katz
- Clio Barnard’s social-realist ensemble piece has taken home the top award from the Brittany gathering, with The Education of Jane Cumming and Skintown also among the prizewinners
The Dinard British & Irish Film Festival, running from 7-11 October, concluded last night with an awards ceremony held at the Palais des Arts et du Festival, where Clio Barnard’s I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning walked away with the main prize. With the festival reaching its 37th edition this year, and weathering numerous changes in the British and French industries, most notably Brexit, it now finds itself in the midst of transition. Festival director Dominique Green will be stepping down after a tenure of seven years, and with its industry and sponsorship pulling power declining in recent times, its future will be assessed through an independent review commissioned by the local mayor’s office, which will come out in early 2027.
Still, its line-up and prizes once again show its unique curatorial strategy, providing a space for new British and Irish films and talent to be celebrated in the welcoming northwestern locale of Brittany. The jury, as ever, included typically prestigious names from the British and French industries: jury president Amira Casar, best known for her role in Call Me by Your Name; fellow actors Thibault de Montalembert, Ben Hardy and Zoé Adjani; and decorated producer Stephen Woolley.
The Golden Hitchcock for Best Film thus went to Barnard’s Directors’ Fortnight-premiered movie, which hasn’t received the same critical attention as the director’s previous works, but has thrived throughout the year in awards terms, with the Dinard gong adding to its Audience Award at Cannes. Sophie Heldman’s The Education of Jane Cumming, focusing on a historic case where a 19th-century pupil in Scotland accused her teachers of lesbianism, won Best Performance Awards for its two leads, Flora Nicholson and Claire Dunne; the German-Swiss-UK co-production has been well received since its premiere earlier this year in the Berlinale Panorama, but was oddly snubbed from the ongoing BFI London Film Festival. The Edinburgh main-competition winner Skintown by Kieron J Walsh, continued its own run of prizes with an Audience Award at Dinard.
The full list of awardees is below:
Golden Hitchcock for Best Film
I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning - Clio Barnard (UK)
Best Performance
Flora Nicholson, Claire Dunne - The Education of Jane Cumming (Germany/Switzerland/UK)
Special Barrière Prize
Rose of Nevada - Mark Jenkin (UK)
Hitchcock Audience Award, Best Feature
Skintown - Kieron J Walsh (Ireland/UK)
Hitchcock Audience Award, Best Short
Punt - Nicky Larkin (Ireland)
Ouest-France “Talent of Tomorrow” Prize
Lady - Olive Nwosu (UK/Nigeria)
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