Mads Mikkelsen Comedy ‘Another Round’ Wins Best Film At BFI London Film Festival

The 2020 BFI London Film Festival has unveiled its virtual audience award winners, with Thomas Vinterberg’s Mads Mikkelsen-starring Danish comedy Another Round scooping Best Film.

The awards replaced the typical jury-voted prizes, which didn’t happen this year due to the pandemic forcing the majority of the fest online.

Also awarded tonight was the IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary, with Wildfire filmmaker Cathy Brady receiving the £50,000 grant, which goes to a first or second time UK filmmaker presenting work in the fest.

Further prizes were handed out to Benjamin Ree’s The Painter And The Thief, which took Best Documentary, Tommy Gillard’s Shuttlecock, which won Best Short Film, and Anna West and David Callanan’s To Miss The Ending, which took Best XR/Immersive Art.

“I’m deeply honoured to receive the IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary. In a year that has been so turbulent for so many, it feels like a safe harbour and for a first feature filmmaker, the chance to recalibrate, dream and immerse myself in the next project is such an incredible gift,” commented Brady.

“Thank you to the audience at the London Film Festival for bringing this award to us. We are very proud to receive this from a British audience; it’s a great honour. We are so sad that we can’t be there,” said Vinterberg on today’s win.

Another Round was selected for this year’s Cannes Label (which was awarded in lieu of the French fest’s cancelled physical edition) and screened at both Toronto and San Sebastian. The film is making headlines in its native Denmark after clocking 800,000 admissions, a three-year record for a local title, despite the pandemic’s impact on cinemas. Samuel Goldwyn Films has U.S. rights to the pic.

“There was never a moment in this utterly crazy year when we considered not delivering a BFI London Film Festival,” said LFF Director Tricia Tuttle. “We know LFF means too much to both filmmakers and audiences. So how fitting, then, that we put audiences in control of the Awards this year with our first Virtual LFF Audience Awards. And dammit, don’t our audiences have great taste.”