Sergei Loznitsa's 'Imperium' Takes Best Film at BFI London

Sergei Loznitsa's "Imperium" won the best film award at the 70th BFI London Film Festival on Sunday. The film revisits the Soviet Union of the early 1970s through footage shot by Italian cameramen.

The competition jury was led by filmmaker Sam Pollard, whose credits include "MLK/FBI" and "Citizen Ashe." Argentine filmmaker Mariano Llinás ("Life of Jorge Luis Borges") and DDA chief strategy officer Julie La Bassiere also served.

"The film is richly evocative and emotionally engaging on all levels giving us a visually arresting perspective of life before the Soviet Union was broken apart," the jury said in its citation.

What did the first feature and documentary juries award?

The Sutherland Award for best first feature went to "9 Temples to Heaven," Thailand's Oscar submission and the fiction debut of Sompot Chidgasornpongse. The film reflects on faith, kinship and the passage from life to death. Amir El-Masry ("Giant," "Limbo") presided over that jury, joined by "Moonglow" producer Alemberg Ang and awards strategist Rosa Bosch.

"An accomplished first feature paving his own path in the well-established tradition of filmmaking in the Southeast Asian region," the jury said.

Bertil Nilsson's "Masc" received a special mention in the same section. The debut tracks Robin, who drifts between short-term jobs and uncertain relationships while looking for somewhere he fits. The jury singled out Nilsson as a fresh British talent with an unusual concept and a funny script.

The Grierson Award for documentary went to Asmahan Bkerat's feature directorial debut "Concrete Land." The film follows several generations of a mixed-race family in Jordan as they resist displacement and hostility. "Santosh" director Sandhya Suri headed the documentary jury, alongside Melbourne International Film Festival senior programmer Kate Fitzpatrick and BAFTA- and Emmy-winning producer Andee Ryder.

"In a noisy and often polemical world it was refreshing, humbling and deeply relevant to see the quiet resilience and dignity of this family in the face of the erasure of their culture and traditions," the jury said.

Theo Rollason's "Queer Edward II," assembled entirely from archive material, earned a documentary special mention. It goes behind the scenes of Derek Jarman's "Edward II," set against the anti-LGBTQIA+ laws Britain passed in the 1980s. The jury praised it as a portrait of Jarman the artist and Jarman the activist.

Who won the short film prizes?

Rahul Roye's "Aman" won the Short Film Award. The film centers on a trans man who learns he is pregnant the night before his gender-affirming surgery, upending his sense of who he is as a man and as a father. It is streaming free on BFI Player until Oct. 25.

Writer-producer Helen Simmons ("100 Nights of Hero") led the shorts jury, which included comedian Leo Reich and script editor Jack Casey.

"We were struck by the film's painterly cinematography, and expansive and assured storytelling, which guided us through the world with care," the jury said.

Elizabeth Hobbs' "Daughters of the Late Colonel" took a short film special mention. The film follows two middle-aged sisters left adrift after the death of their domineering father, and the jury cited its inventive visual style.

What happens next?

Audience voting for the festival's best feature film and best British discovery prizes closes Oct. 21, with winners to be named later. Last year, Chloé Zhao's "Hamnet" took the audience prize for best feature, while Yemi Bamiro's "Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story" won British discovery.

By Elena Vasquez