Ben Kingsley plays Sexy Beast's unstable Logan

The Bifas are in their fourth year and were created to heighten industry awareness of the achievements by independent film-making in the UK.

Sexy Beast was nominated for five awards and the film tells the story of a retired gangster (played by Ray Winstone) pressed into service by various dubious figures from his past, played by Kingsley and Ian McShane.

Winstone had been nominated alongside Kinglsey in the best actor category.

In the Mood for Love won the Best Foreign Independent Film award for a film in a foreign language, while Memento took the Best Foreign Independent Film in English award.

Ben Winshaw was judged to be the Most Promising Newcomer for his work on My Brother Tom, Dave Pearce won in the Best Music category for South West Nine, and the Best Achievement in Production Award went to Gas Attack.

Bread and Roses is a typically hard-hitting drama from Ken Loach

The film The Warrior yielded two awards - Asif Kapadia won the Douglas Hickox Award for a British director on their debut, and Roman Osin, for Best Technical Achievement.

Veteran filmmaker Chris Menges won the Lifetime Achievement Award, and the FilmFour Special Jury Prize went jointly to Bob and Harvey Weinstein.

The Bifa shortlist was drawn up by a jury of 10, made up of key industry players including Primary Colours actor Adrian Lester, High Fidelity director Stephen Frears and the director of the BBC film Last Resort, Pawel Pawilowski.

To be eligible for consideration, films must not be solely funded by a single studio.

They must also be produced, or majority co-produced by a British company, or in receipt of at least 51% of their budget from a British source.

The 2001 award ceremony were held at the Park Lane Hotel, London.