East Is East Triumphs In London

While America gears up for the Oscars, the British are quietly entering their own award season. Last night saw the London Evening Standard Film Awards take place with a glittering cast of stars in attendence, including Madonna and Jessica Lange. This was a celebration of all things British as a host of home-grown stars stepped up to the podium to make their acceptance speeches, but the most exciting decision of the night was the Best Film Award which was given to Damien O'Donnell's East is East. But no awards ceremony would be truly successful without a minor controversy which was provided last night by Peter Mullan who won for his directorial debut, Orphans. Speaking from the set of Kingdom Come, Mullan described the award as bizarre, given the review Orphans was given by the paper's film critic Alexander Walker. Walker had written, 'Quite apart from the mercifully unintelligible accents (to my ears, anyhow), there is the additional comfort of feeling it's well to be this side of the Scottish border. I say give these people their freedom to live separately. We'll all be safer.' 'I would like to thank the jury for reaffirming my lack of faith in Alexander Walker,' Mullan added. Other awards went as follows: Best Actress: Samantha Morton for Dreaming of Joseph Lees Best Actor: Jeremy Northam for An Ideal Husband and The Winslow Boy Best Screenplay: Shakespeare in Love Peter Sellars Award for Comedy: Notting Hill