Celebrities including Rosamund Pike, Natalie Dormer and Ruth Wilson celebrated the start of the London Film Festival 2018 by awarding a worthy winner for the IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary Award in Association with the BFI.

Guests enjoyed the sounds of Izzy Bizu, with luminaries from the worlds of film, music and fashion including:

Richard Billingham, writer and director of Ray & Liz was presented the £50,000 prize, by leading British director, Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Baby Driver) at a star studded gala dinner at London’s Electric Light Station.

The guests marked the eve of the opening of the BFI London Film Festival and the most significant bursary of its kind in the UK film industry, expressly designed to support the future careers of exceptional British film talent who have a film in Official Selection at the BFI London Film Festival.

The UK premiere of Ray & Liz takes place at the festival on Wednesday 17 October.