London film festival 2009: it's a wrap

The London film festival's closing gala was the world premiere of Nowhere Boy, a portrait of a teenage John Lennon, directed by Sam Taylor-Wood (left) and starring Aaron Johnson. It is artist Taylor-Wood's first feature-length film Photograph: Fergus McDonald/Getty Images

Nowhere Boy depicts the tug of love over the young John Lennon between his formidable Aunt Mimi (played by Kristin Scott Thomas, left) and his mother Julia (played by Anne-Marie Duff, right) Photograph: Richard Young/Rex Features

This year's London film festival award winners: (from left) Yaron Shani (and co-director Scandar Copti) took the Sutherland award for best first feature for Ajami; actor Tahar Rahim collected the festival's inaugural best film award for Jacques Audiard's Un Prophète (A Prophet); John Hurt received a BFI Fellowship for his achievements in acting; screenwriter Jack Thorne was judged the best British newcomer for The Scouting Book for Boys; Yoav Shamir won the Grierson award for best documentary for Defamation; and renowned Malian film-maker Souleymane Cissé was awarded a BFI Fellowship. The ceremony took place at Inner Temple on 28 October 2009 Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Jurors Charlotte Rampling and Anjelica Huston celebrate the end of their duties at the London film festival awards ceremony at Inner Temple on 28 October 2009. Their fellow panellists included John Akomfrah, Jarvis Cocker, Mathieu Kassovitz and Iain Softley Photograph: Dave M Benett/Getty Images

Stephen Poliakoff, Jenny Agutter and Hugh Bonneville at the world premiere of Glorious 39 on 27 October 2009. The film is a conspiracy thriller set on the eve of the second world war Photograph: Dave M Benett/Getty Images

Soon-to-be-ex-Doctor Who David Tennant meets the fans at the premiere of Glorious 39. In the film, Tennant plays a sabre-rattling MP who winds up dead. Sadly, no cue for regeneration there Photograph: Daniel Deme/EPA

Ethan and Joel Coen look suitably solemn at the London film festival premiere of A Serious Man on 27 October 2009 Photograph: Yui Mok/AP

Director Ang Lee (centre) flanked by actors Henry Goodman and Imelda Staunton, at the premiere of Taking Woodstock on 26 October 2009. The film depicts how one young man gets involved in the landmark festival; Goodman and Staunton play his enterprising parents Photograph: Ian West/PA

Eva Green arrives for the premiere of Cracks on 25 October 2009. The film depicts how the cloistered world of a 1930s girls' school swim team, coached by a glamorous tutor played by the erstwhile Vesper Lynd, is disrupted by the arrival of a new pupil Photograph: Dave M Benett/Getty Images

Cracks is the feature debut of Jordan Scott, who must have inherited the directorial gene from her father, Ridley Photograph: Joel Ryan/AP

Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi talks about his feature film, No One Knows About Persian Cats, a portrait of the underground live music scene in Tehran, after its London film festival screening on 25 October 2009 Photograph: Samir Hussein/Getty Images

Writer and director J Blakeson attends the premiere of The Disappearance of Alice Creed on 24 October 2009. Blakeson was singled out for a special mention in the best British newcomer category by the festival jury, who commended his 'accomplished, original and ambitious film-making' Photograph: Ian West/PA

Screenwriter Abdel Raouf Dafri and director Jacques Audiard at the UK premiere of A Prophet (Un Prophète) on 24 October 2009. The film, a tense prison saga that follows the fortunes of a young Arab convict, arrived at the festival already garlanded with the grand jury prize from Cannes. It added the best film award from the London film festival, whose jury described it as 'a masterpiece' Photograph: Ian West/PA

Master animator Nick Park answers questions at the London film festival's celebration of Wallace & Gromit's 20th anniversary on 24 October 2009 Photograph: Samir Hussein/Getty Images

Noel Fielding (or one half of cult comics the Mighty Boosh to the uninitiated) attends the UK premiere of Bunny and the Bull at the London film festival on 23 October 2009 Photograph: Ian Gavan/Getty Images