We are proud to be partners of the Soho Film Awards, a new festival with an old-fashioned conviction: that a good film is one that will still be worth watching in twenty years. Its motto is The Spirit of Independent Cinema, and its jury judges every entry, in full, on storytelling, performance, direction and artistic integrity. Fashion does not enter into it. Members will recognise the attitude.

As the festival's ticketing and audience-curating partner, the Club helped to fill the room for its first ceremony, held on Friday 16 October at The Savile Club, 69 Brook Street. That a festival named after Soho should open in Mayfair is the sort of paradox we enjoy. The reason was practical: the Savile offered better terms than many of Soho's screening rooms and independent cinemas, and generously supplied canapés and refreshments into the bargain. The organisers hope to bring future screenings back to Soho proper. In the meantime, the films were shown in a specially equipped room below stairs, closer in spirit to a private picture house than a multiplex – which, for a first edition, seemed entirely apt.

A gathering of the right sort

From six o'clock the guests arrived under a dress code that asked ladies to be "elegant, eccentric, glamorous, and tasteful". Several took the second adjective as an instruction. Official photographer Anthony Kay worked the room while filmmakers, actors and film professionals from Soho and Mayfair found one another over a glass.

Among the winners present were Peter Valentino, director of Bye-Bye, Sing Sing; Tim Heath and Tom Swash, co-directors of Theatre Royal Battersea Rise; and, from Muddled Meals, writer and actress Anita Albrecht with her husband Martyn Ward, who also appears in the film, together with fellow cast member Anja Cilia.

The jury was well represented. Andrew Fish, the London actor and writer who took the most active part in the judging, was there, as were Raymond Keene OBE, the chess grandmaster, and his wife Annette Keene, once a celebrated figure of the ballet and a keen follower of the film world. David Shilling, the London milliner beloved of Monte Carlo, could not attend but sent warm greetings and words of support.

At a quarter past six, Ima von Wenden of Cinelion UK – known to members in another capacity as the Club's Secretary – gave the opening address, Why We Need This Film Festival.

Films that refuse to behave

What makes this festival such a natural ally of the Club is the sheer oddity of much of its work. Around two thirds of all entries were short films, and a striking number of them were arthouse, surreal or frankly unclassifiable. The jury responded by inventing new categories rather than leave good films unrewarded – a solution members will appreciate.

The arthouse honours give the flavour. Beyond Mamushi, Martin Daniels's psychological thriller, took Best Indie / Alternative / Arthouse Feature, while the short-film equivalent went to Michalis Langas's surrealist This Will Make You Sleep Instantly. No one in the audience did. Adam Bouabda's darkly comic Tania, a semi-finalist, cast Stephen Tompkinson as Alan, a dying man whose most closely guarded secret is that his beloved wife is a mannequin. Best Short Film went to Something Pointless, Asa Bailey's philosophical drama starring BAFTA winner Owen Teale and Olivier Award winner Sophie Thompson – a title that might serve as a Club motto on a slow afternoon.

Stage and screen

The Club's long kinship with the theatre made the evening's world premiere especially fitting. Theatre Royal Battersea Rise, winner of Best British Drama, follows two actors – one a student, one semi-retired – as the pandemic closes the playhouses in May 2020. Tim Heath has spent more than forty years on stage, screen and television; this is his first film as a director.

Muddled Meals, a seven-minute drama about a daughter caring for her mother through dementia, was among the most decorated films of the night. Christie Arnold won Best Director, and Rula Lenska, Anita Albrecht and Anja Cilia shared Outstanding Performance, a team award the jury created because it could not choose between its three leading actresses. Miss Lenska, unable to travel from "sunny Spain", addressed the room by video. "I know it's special and it touches everybody who sees it," she said of the film, "and I'm so grateful and touched that it has gone to a special award created especially for us."

The top prize, Best Feature Film, went to Last Supper, a Southern noir tragedy by the Texan filmmaker Sonny Corona III; Andrew Cortez, one of its filmmakers, likewise sent his thanks by recorded message.

The full list of winners

  • Best Feature Film: Last Supper (USA, 2026), Sonny Corona III
  • Best Comedy Feature: Rest In Peace, If You Can (France, 2025), Charly Ongolo and Michel Nogara
  • Best Indie / Alternative / Arthouse Feature: Beyond Mamushi (UK, 2025), Martin Daniels
  • Best Director: Christie Arnold, Muddled Meals (UK, 2026)
  • Best Leading Actor / Actress: Yekaterina Molostova, Bye-Bye, Sing Sing (USA, 2026)
  • Best Short Film: Something Pointless (UK, 2026), Asa Bailey
  • Best Short Drama: Empathy Rehearsals (Italy, 2026), Jacopo Cullin
  • Best Short Thriller: Drop Number 8 (USA, 2025), Ryan and Chad Chamberlain
  • Best Short Romance: We Are Where We Are (UK, 2026), Clara Planelles
  • Best Short Sci-Fi / Fantasy: Dead to Door (UK, 2026), Kate Lloyd
  • Best Short Indie / Alternative / Arthouse Film: This Will Make You Sleep Instantly (Greece, Romania, UK, 2025), Michalis Langas
  • Best Short Film Screenplay: The Race (Ireland, 2026), Edelle Kenny
  • Best Short Film Cinematography: A Girl Called Alice (UK, 2026), Tristan Loraine
  • Best British Drama: Theatre Royal Battersea Rise (UK, 2026), Tim Heath and Tom Swash
  • Outstanding Performance: Rula Lenska, Anita Albrecht and Anja Cilia, Muddled Meals (UK, 2026)

An invitation for November

One evening could not hold every winner, so a second programme of screenings and celebrations is expected in early November, with the date now being settled. It will include Last Supper; Roberde Madhere's psychological drama We Turn, a finalist for Best Feature Film; Clara Planelles's We Are Where We Are; Bye-Bye, Sing Sing, for which Yekaterina Molostova was named Best Leading Actor / Actress; Beyond Mamushi; and Tristan Loraine's A Girl Called Alice.

Places will again be limited by room size. Members who would like to attend should let the Club know early, and we will share the date as soon as it is fixed. Full details of the films are at sohofilmawards.com.

A festival that prizes originality over trend, opens in the wrong postcode for the right reasons and invents new awards rather than overlook a good film: we could not have asked for a better partner.