At yesterday's ceremony Dennis Davidson, the founder of the DDA Group accepted the inaugural DDA Spotlight Award on behalf of Armando Iannucci and Francis Annan who received the new award honouring diversity and inclusion in cinema.
Included below are the ceremony's photo gallery and video greetings of mr Iannuci and mr Annan.
Armando Iannucci will be honoured for his latest feature, The Personal History of David Copperfield, an inclusively cast adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic. In his acceptance video, Armando Iannucci said: "I'm aware that we shouldn't need an award for diversity, as it should be something we want to achieve automatically in everything we make. If we want to tell or adapt any story, even one that's made that's written 170 years ago, surely we want to do because we think it's relevant, that the incidents and people in it speak to all of us now.
I couldn't think of anybody else to play David Copperfield than Dev Patel, because he embodies all the strength and vulnerability, comedy and heroism and generosity that Dickens wrote for the character in his novel. And so we cast every part that way, choosing the actor that best embodied the spirit of the character.
And I hope that, with the profile gained from this award, it signals to casting directors and producers, how we can go on casting period drama in the future."
Francis Annan will be honoured for his latest film, Escape from Pretoria, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Daniel Webber and Ian Hart, which Annan directed and wrote. The film tells the incredible true-life story of anti-apartheid activist Tim Jenkin (Radcliffe), who was sentenced to a South African prison for 12 years but then hatched a daring plan of escape. In his acceptance speech, Annan said: "This award really means a lot, in terms of this story, as the fabric of the film is about crossing the racial and social line that divides people, to join arms and fight against injustice, for freedom and equality.
Timothy Jenkin who wrote the book the film is based on was actually in political exile while he wrote the first edition of the book, so he really did his best for the light to be shown on the injustice and the evils of the apartheid. So it's very much an honour to receive this!".
See the video greeting of Armando Iannucci here.
See the video greeting of Francis Annan here.