Edinburgh winners revealed

Joanna Coates’s drama Hide and Seek has won The Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature at the 68th Edinburgh International Film Festival, which has revealed its winners today.

Walking on Sunshine star Hannah Arterton, sister of Gemma, is among the cast of the film about four fragile youngsters who flee London to start an unconventional utopia.

Coates wrote the film with Daniel Metz, who also stars in the film and produces.

The Michael Powell jury, chaired by director Amos Gitai with actors Nina Hoss and Michael Smiley, described the film as “innovative” and “exceptional.”

On Sunday, Skip Kite’s documentary Tony Benn: Will & Testament won the audience award.

The award for Best Film in the International Competition went to Midi Z’s Ice Poison (Taiwan, Myanmar), which charts the economic despair in the rural and developing landscape of Myanmar.

Eddie Marsan scooped the Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film for his turn in Still Life, selected by the Michael Powell jury who further awarded a special commendation to Zoe Telford for her performance in Greyhawk.

The award for Best Documentary Feature Film, supported by Al Jazeera was bestowed upon Farida Pacha’s My Name is Salt, while Slap, directed by Nick Rowland, won the Virgin Atlantic Little Red Award for Best Short Film.

As voted for by the audience, The McLaren Award for Best New British Animation, supported by the British Council, went to My Stuffed Granny by director Effie Pappa.

The award for Creative Innovation in a Short Film, now in its second year, was awarded by the Short Films Jury to The Bigger Picture directed by Daisy Jacobs and the award for Outstanding Individual Contribution to a Short Film, which celebrates imaginative and innovative work in short cinema, was awarded to Ainslie Henderson and Will Anderson for their screenwriting and direction of the short film Monkey Love Experiments.

The Student Critics Jury Award, supported by James and Morag Anderson, was awarded to well-received Berlin premiere Stations of the Cross, directed by Dietrich Brüggemann.