Duncan Jones’ Moon takes top prize at Edinburgh

Produced by London based Liberty Films, the film premiered at Sundance last year, and stars Sam Rockwell as a man isolated on the moon. The son of singer David Bowie, Jones is now being hailed as one of the UK’s brightest new directing talents.

Earlier in the week Moon had also been leading the poll for the Standard Life Audience Award, but the award went to Tomm Moore’s animation The Secret Of Kells, voiced by Irish actor Brendan Gleeson.

Following on from his best directing award at Sundance, Cary Fukunaga picked up the Skillset New Directors Award for epic thriller Sin Nombre, about a Honduran woman’s journey across Mexico to reach the US.  

Dutch-Russian director Aliona Van der Horst won the Best Documentary Award for her film about the poet Boris Ryzhy and the PPG Award For Best Performance in a British Feature Film went to Katie Jarvis in Andrea Arnold’s Cannes winner Fish Tank. Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s Easier With Practice, about a writer who has a sexual encounter over the phone with a stranger, was named as the Best New International Feature.

Overall there has been a mixed critical response to the programme at this year’s festival, which closes tonight with the international premiere of Adam starring Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne. Dancy and his partner Clare Danes are expected to attend, along with the film’s director Max Mayer.

The 2009 EIFF prize winners

Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film, sponsored by the UK Film Council
Moon – Directed by Duncan Jones

PPG Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film
Katie Jarvis – Fish Tank

Best New International Feature Award
Easier With Practice– Directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez

Standard Life Audience Award
The Secret Life Of Kells – Directed by Tomm Moore

Best Documentary Award
Boris Ryzhy– Directed by Aliona Van der Horst

Skillset New Directors Award
Cary Joji Fukunaga – Sin Nombre

The Rotten Tomatoes Critical Consensus Award
Humpday – Directed by Lynn Shelton

UK Film Council Award for Best British Short Film
After Tomorrow – Directed by Emma Sullivan

Best International Short Film Award
Princess Margeret Bld  – Directed by Kazik Radwanski

Scottish Short Documentary Award supported by Baillie Gifford
Peter In Radioland - Directed by Johanna Wagner

McLaren Award for New British Animation in partnership with BBC Film Network
Photograph Of Jesus – Directed by Laurie Hill