‘Aftersun’ wins Best Film at British Independent Film Awards
Ever since its premiere earlier this year, Aftersun – the latest directorial effort by Charlotte Wells – has been touted as the best film of 2022 by multiple critics and audiences. The film substantiated that claim by winning seven honours at the British Independent Film Awards, including the title of Best Film.
Featuring the incredibly talented Paul Mescal as Calum, Aftersun tells the moving story of an 11-year-old girl (played by Frankie Corio) who embarks on a trip to Turkey with her father in the summer. Full of bittersweet moments that exemplify the coming-of-age experience, Aftersun’s narrative is quietly powerful.
The film reflects on innocence, loss, grief and the passage of time, presenting a non-linear, fractured narrative timeline which mimics the painful mechanisms of human memory. Like all great art, one of the reasons why Aftersun is so moving is because Wells drew from her own experiences.
In an interview with Little White Lies, Wells said: “I wrote that dialogue, and there are many aspects of Calum that are as much me as they are my dad, and that’s definitely one that belongs to me – and may well have belonged to my dad. It’s difficult when you leave where you’re from, especially when you leave relatively young and grow up travelling or in a multitude of other places.”
The director added: “Sometimes, when I’m expressing this thought, I feel like I am just quoting the film, so I feel like this is one of the ways in which the film stands for itself. In a way, Edinburgh will always be home.” In addition to the Best Film Award, Aftersun also won honours for its innovative cinematography and unique editing, among other categories.
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