Mike Leigh

The Independent Spirit awards put four of Mike Leigh's films on their foreign film list, and one of the four won: Life Is Sweet from 1991, Naked from 1993 and Topsy-Turvy from 1999 stayed nominees, while Secrets & Lies from 1996 took it. That same film turned into an award in Spain as well, taking the Goya's European film category in 1997 against Theo Angelopoulos and Lars von Trier. The Italian academy nominated Another Year, from 2010, in its European Union film category. The Berlinale item is not his: the Silver Bear for the performance in Happy-Go-Lucky went to Sally Hawkins, and he stands in that record as the director only. Ryan Gilbey counts Vera Drake a third-period work and finds it successful at cutting the flow of nostalgia.