Humpday, directed by Lynn Shelton, has become the second ever winner of the Rotten Tomatoes Critical Consensus Award, it was announced today at an awards ceremony in Edinburgh. Presented as part of the Edinburgh Film Festival, the event also honoured Moon, Easier With Practice and The Secret of Kells, while Katie Jarvis wins the Best Performance in a British Feature Film award for her role in Fish Tank.
The Rotten Tomatoes Critical Consensus Award is presented to a film in the festival’s Director’s Showcase category, which is narrowed down to a shortlist of five by RT’s UK team and EIFF Artistic Director Hannah McGill. This year’s nominees were Stella, The Missing Person, I’m Going to Explode, Adventureland and Humpday.
The panel comment on the nominees at the Rotten Tomatoes party on Thurday.
The award last year went to Swedish vampire tale Let the Right One In, which went on to become one of the year’s freshest films. Humpday, about a pair of straight guys who drunkenly suggest they have sex with one another on camera for an amateur art-porn festival, is released in the US on 10th July and will hit UK cinemas later in the year. It stars Mark Duplass and The Blair Witch Project‘s Joshua Leonard.
Lynn Shelton, director of Humpday, wasn’t at the festival to collect her award, but recorded a video acceptance speech in which she thanked Edinburgh and the Rotten Tomatoes panel for choosing her film. “I’m most grateful for it. I’m happy that I got this instead of actual tomatoes being thrown at me,” she said.
Lynn Shelton comments on winning the award.
Elsewhere at the awards ceremony, Duncan Jones collected the Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film for Moon, starring Sam Rockwell. Kyle Patrick Alvarez took home Best New International Feature for Easier with Practice and Tomm Moore got the Audience Award for The Secret of Kells. Newcomer Katie Jarvis was chosen to win the PPG Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film for her role in Fish Tank. “This has been an amazing year for me in more ways than one,” she said. “I was lucky enough to spend my 18th birthday in Edinburgh last week, where Fish Tank was shown, and this is such a great 18th present! It is a real honour to receive this award, both for myself and the film. I would like to thank Andrea for the opportunity and for believing in me.”
Meanwhile, Sir Sean Connery, who was present at the ceremony and is a patron of the Edinburgh Film Festival, spoke of his disappointment at a lack of BBC coverage of the event. The star complained that there were 370 technicians covering Glastonbury for the BBC, but none at the festival. “This isn’t democratic,” he said. “The BBC is supposed to be British; where is the equality?”
