September Says takes top prize in Dinard

Ariane Labed's September Says won the Hitchcock D'Or prize for Best Film in Dinard Photo: Courtesy Dinard Festival of British and Irish Film

The directorial debut by Ariane Labed (a French actor born in Greece) who tells the story of two bonded siblings inhabiting their own world in September Says, has won the Hitchcock d'Or for Best Film at the Dinard Festival of British and Irish Film.

The film captures the fragility of adolescence. Screen International praised its "preciseness and intimacy, brought to life by performances from Mia Tharia and Pascale Kann, assisted by Rakhee Thakrar as the single mother who loves them both but cannot fully enter the private sanctum of their sisterhood.”

Jason Patel who plays a British Indian drag queen in Unicorns, and the film's co-director James Krishna Floyd picked up two awards at the closing ceremony Photo: Courtesy Dinard Festival of British and Irish Film

September Says was the unanimous choice of the Festival jury headed by Arielle Dombasle. Other prizes awarded last night at the closing ceremony of the Festival’s 35th edition include a best performance gong for Lalor Roddy in That They May Face the Rising Sun by Pat Collins while the Hitchcock audience award in the Shortcuts section was bestowed on Harry Hadden-Paton’s Legacy.

Unicorns by Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd scooped two awards - Special Jury Prize and the Audience Award for its tale of a queer romance between a straight single dad (played by Ben Hardy) and a British Indian drag queen (Jason Patel). The film is based on real-life experiences and features many real-life drag queens.

The final prize for “talent of tomorrow” went to British-French director Jethro Massey’s Paul & Paulette Take A Bath, described as “a twisted romantic comedy about a young American photographer and a French girl with a taste for the macabre.”