Neds sees off King's Speech at Evening Standard British FIlm Awards

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A low-budget coming-of-age drama by Trainspotting star Peter Mullan has beaten The King's Speech to win top honours at the Evening Standard's British Film Awards in association with the London Film Museum.

Neds, short for non-educated delinquents, draws on Mullan's own experience of Glasgow's gang culture with a gritty realism which has sparked genuine clashes among rival gangs in Scottish cinema audiences.

Presenting the award at a star-studded ceremony, actress Emily Watson - who has just made Steven Spielberg's War Horse with actor/director Mullan - said Neds was "raw and unflinching and very difficult to watch".

She urged Mullan, whose last film as director, The Magdalene Sisters, was released eight years ago, not to wait so long until his next.

Mullan, 51, said: "I'm glad that Neds seem to have got an audience and maybe this award will give it a wee bit more."

But his novice star, Conor McCarron, was beaten to the most promising newcomer award by Ben Wheatley, the co-writer and director of crime comedy thriller Down Terrace.

Andrew Garfield, soon to appear as the new Spider-Man, was named best actor for two performances, in Never Let Me Go and in The Social Network. Speaking from Hollywood, he said: "I intend to let this spur me and provide more fuel to my fire. It really does mean a great deal."

And Kristin Scott Thomas won best actress for her performance as a housewife having a dangerous affair in the French film Leaving. "I'm really proud of this because I've always felt a bit guilty about going off and making French films and getting this has made me feel that you're not too cross with me and that you enjoy them," she said.

WINNERS
BEST FILM
Neds (director Peter Mullan)

BEST ACTOR
Andrew Garfield (The Social Network & Never Let Me Go)

BEST ACTRESS
Kristin Scott Thomas (Leaving)

BEST SCREENPLAY
Clio Barnard (The Arbor)

LONDON FILM MUSEUM TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Gareth Edwards, for his cinematography, production design and visual effects of
Monsters

PETER SELLERS AWARD FOR COMEDY
Roger Allam, for his performance in Tamara Drewe

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER
Ben Wheatley, co-writer/director of Down Terrace

BEST DOCUMENTARY
A Day in the Life: Four Portraits of Post-War Britain (director John Krish)

ALEXANDER WALKER SPECIAL AWARD
Christopher Nolan for his contribution to film

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