Jack King’s The Ceremony has won the inaugural £50,000 Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence at the revamped Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), which drew to a close tonight (August 21).
Yorkshire-born King’s feature debut follows two migrant workers who are forced to bury a colleague in the Yorkshire hills. When one demands to accord the dead man his rightful Islamic burial, nerves begin to fray, and a power struggle emerges.
Cast includes Tudor Cucu Dumitrescu, Erdal Yildiz, Liam Thomas, Arnold Bakshi and Mo’min Swaitat. Producers are Hollie Bryan and Lucy Meer for the UK’s Cosmosquare Films and Strive Films.
King’s previous credits include short Predators, which was supported by BFI Network and premiered at BFI London Film Festival in 2023.
The filmmaker also previously participated in EIFF Talent Lab Connects in 2022 with his feature project, Snowbird.
The Ceremony was one of 10 feature-length world premieres competing for the Sean Connery prize, which was chosen through an audience vote.
Further world premiere titles in contention included ventriloquist and comedian Nina Conti’s debut feature Sunlight, Daisy-May Hudson’s narrative feature debut Lollipop starring Screen Star of Tomorrow Posy Sterling, and Iranian filmmaker Arash Rakhsha’s documentary All The Mountains Give, about Kurdish smugglers eking out an existence in the Iran/Iraq borderlands.
The Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for Short Filmmaking Excellence, worth £15,000, was awarded to Trevor Neuhoff’s Manny Wolfe.
Paul Ridd, EIFF director, said: “These new EIFF awards were set up to support new and emerging filmmakers in their careers. Both these films show immense vision and skill at connecting with audiences and we wish both filmmakers the very best for the future.”
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