Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe’s superb, genre-bending Brothers of the Head won the esteemed Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film. The Jury for the 2006 Award was chaired by British acting legend John Hurt and included Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig, Irish writer John Banville, acclaimed Scottish Director Michael Caton-Jones and rock legend Chrissie Hynde. The Michael Powell Award is sponsored by the UK Film Council.

Scripted by Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas writer, Tony Grisoni, and directed by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe, it follows the rise to rock stardom of conjoined twins. There will be a special screening of the award-winning film, tonight at 21:45 at The Cameo.

Kevin Smith’s raucous comedy Clerks II received the Standard Life Audience Award. Sponsored by Standard Life, the winner is chosen by audience votes from the Gala and British Gala sections of the Festival.

Smith also appeared at EIFF 2006 for a rare UK appearance, in a Reel Life interview. Festival audiences who missed out on the original sold-out performances of Clerks II, have another opportunity to see it at 12:00 on Sunday 27 August as part of the Lavazza sponsored Best of the Fest.

The inaugural Best Documentary Feature Award went to Jake Clennell for The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief. The ‘Great Happiness Space’ is Osaka’s Rakkyo Café: a club, run by ambitious young entrepreneur Issei, where a core staff of 20 young men are groomed to become the top male escorts in the city. The film will receive a further screening as part of Best of the Fest, at 10:00 on Sunday 27 August at Filmhouse.

Director Paul Andrew Williams took home the Skillset New Directors Award for urban thriller London to Brighton. The film charts 24 hours in the life of a prostitute and a young runaway, fleeing to Brighton in a desperate attempt to save their own lives. The gripping drama receives a further screening as part of Best of the Fest at 14:00 on Sunday 27 August at the Cameo.

Tickets for screenings of the Award winning films can be purchased online, in person at the venue Box Office or by telephone on 0131 623 8030.

See the Photo Gallery for exclusive pictures of the event.

“But I love the movie.”

Smith wouldn’t rule out a third Clerks instalment but said it would be unlikely in the next few years.

“Clerks was a movie about what it felt like to be in my 20s and Clerks II is what it felt like to be in my 30s,” he said.

“So somewhere mid-40s or even mid 50s might be a nice time to check back in after I have had a bit of living experience.

As director Kevin Smith returns to the convenience-store classic, Jason Mewes explains how he’s grown up over time.

“The first Clerks was pretty much how I acted when I was younger, I never sold weed—that part’s fiction. But I did smoke a lot of weed back then. I would say that the character of Jay, then and now, is the younger me to a tee. I still act all obnoxious and stuff, but I sort of know boundaries. I’m not going around saying, ‘Hey, sluts!’ you know what I mean? Uh, its not that I don’t think it, but now I might keep it to myself. Being sober, I’m more clear and connected. I live a little more. Because of drugs, I was so much worse. It wasn’t good. I’m sure you know what drugs I was doing. I would be concentrating on getting through a take and wanting to do more drugs, because my only concern was finding some so that I didn’t fell so bad, so that I wasn’t physically sick. Or if I was doing coke, I would want the scene to end so I could go back to my trailer and do more. It only makes it better now that I’m clean, because now I can do six takes and not be concentrating on getting back to my trailer. I can concentrate on more important things like ,’well would it be funnier if I said this here?’”