Sasha Polak’s Silver Haze [shot by Tibor Dingelstad NSC] scooped the top prize at the Dinard Film Festival, the French seaside festival that spotlights UK and Irish cinema for French audiences, that ran from September 27 to October 1.

Berlinale Panorama title Silver Haze won the Golden Hitchcock for best film. Polak’s feature reunites the Dutch filmmaker with UK actor Vicky Knight, after working together on Dirty God in 2019. It is loosely based on Knight’s own experience as a child, in which she survived an arson attack.

The drama is a co-production between the Netherlands’ outfit Viking Film and UK production company EMU Films. BFI Distribution will release in the UK, while The Jokers has the title for France. New Europe Film Sales represents sales.

Déborah Lukumuena took home the award for best performance for her role in Girl, Adura Onashile’s Glasgow-set drama, that world premiered at Sundance and was the opening night film at Glasgow. Lukumuena plays a loving but fiercely protective mother, an African migrant to Scotland, who is grappling with her own trauma. New Europe Film Sales also reps this title, which Studio Soho has for the UK.

Read the full announcement here.