Never Rarely Sometimes Always was the big winner of the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film 27th annual awards winning 3 Trudies, including two for Eliza Hittman as Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, for its intimate portrayal of two teenaged girls on an out of state journey, faced with a momentous decision.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire from France’s Céline Sciamma won two awards including Best Movie and Best Cinematography for Claire Mathon. Two other foreign films the Georgian ballet drama And Then We Danced, and post WWII Russia-set Beanpole also won two awards.

Other winning films included Best Documentary went to Time directed by Garrett Bradley; and the Society’s most prestigious category, the Buried Treasure, was a tie, split between the Ghost Tropic, in which a woman sleeps through her stop and must find her way home across Brussels; and Light from Light, a character driven drama about a single mom and part-time paranormal investigator asked to look into a possible haunting at a widower’s farmhouse.

Winners of 27th Chlotrudis Awards

Best Movie
Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Buried Treasure (TIE)
Ghost Tropic
Light from Light

Best Director
Eliza Hittman for Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Best Actress
Sidney Flanagan for the role of Autumn in Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Best Actor (TIE)
Riz Ahmed for the role of Ruben in Sound of Metal
Levan Gelbakhiani for the role of Merab in And Then We Danced

Best Supporting Actress
Vasilisa Perelygina for the role of Masha in Beanpole

Best Supporting Actor
Orlin Asenov for the role of Jojo in Cat in the Wall

Best Original Screenplay
Never Rarely Sometimes Always, screenplay by Eliza Hittman

Best Adapted Screenplay
Shirley screenplay by Sarah Gubbins, based on the book by Susan Scarf Merrell

Best Use of Music in a Film (TIE)
And Then We Danced – Zviad Mgebry, Music Supervisor
Lovers Rock – Mica Levi, Composer; Ed Bailie and Abi Leland, Music Supervisors

Best Editing
Andrew Patterson, The Vast of Night

Best Cinematography
Claire Mathon, Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Best Production Design
Sergey Ivanov, Beanpole

Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast
Kajillionaire

Best Documentary
Time