Tar and Oscar-winning The Banshees Of Inisherin were the big winners at the London Critics’ Circle film awards, winning three and five prizes respectively.
The psychological drama Tar, directed by Todd Field, stars Cate Blanchett as a complex German orchestra conductor at the peak of her career before she begins to unravel.
It was named film of the year at the May Fair Hotel ceremony on Sunday, while Academy Award winner Blanchett was named actress of the year and Field director of the year.
This is the third time Blanchett has won the award, after Elizabeth in 1998 and Blue Jasmine in 2013.
Meanwhile, the British-Irish director of the dark comedy The Banshees Of Inisherin The Banshees Of Inisherin left the ceremony with five awards – including screenwriter of the year for McDonagh, actor of the year for Colin Farrell and both supporting actor and actor for Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon respectively.
The win continues Farrell’s successful awards season, having secured his first Academy Award nomination for best actor, and a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) gong for his performance as Padraic Suilleabhain.
The film about friendship, which co-stars Brendan Gleeson, also won the Attenborough Award for Welsh Irish film.
Another Irish title, The Quiet Girl, won foreign language film of the year when they shared a joint win with Park Chan-wook’s thriller Decision To Leave.
Meanwhile, Michelle Yeoh was awarded the top critics prize, the Dilys Powell award for excellence in film for her role as Evelyn Wang in the action epic Everything Everywhere All At Once.
It comes as the 60-year-old Malaysian actor received an Oscar and Golden Globe nod for best actor in a musical or comedy in the film about a Chinese immigrant responsible for saving the multiverse.
Florence Pugh and Bill Nighy were nominated as British Irish actress and Irish actor for their work in 2022, when Nighy received his first Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of a veteran civil servant in Living.
The ceremony brought together Aftersun stars Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio, who played father and daughter in writer-director Charlotte Wells’ film.
Teenager Corio won the young British performer award for her role as Sophie Paterson, while Paul was on hand to accept the Philip French Wells award for pioneering British Irish filmmaker.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio was awarded the technical achievement award for animation and was collected by Gregory Mann for the title character.
Meanwhile, Laura Poitras’ film All The Beauty And The Bloodshed, about the life and work of renowned photographer and activist Nan Goldin, was named documentary of the year and Keeran Anwar Blessie’s A Fox In The Night won Irish short film of the year.