Edinburgh writer and director Laura Carreira honoured at London Film Festival for debut feature

An Edinburgh-based filmmaker has won one of the biggest prizes at the London Film Festival with her debut feature.

Writer and director Laura Carreira's story of a young Portugese immigrant struggling to make ends meet after starting a new life in Edinburgh won the Sutherland Award for best first feature as the event drew to a close.

Her film On Falling focuses on the experiences of Aurora, who has a low-paid job as a "picker" in a vast warehouse, and struggles to make friends at work or with her colleagues.

The feature, which is expected to be released in cinemas early next year, is partly inspired by Ms Carreira's own experiences after moving to Edinburgh from Portugal to study film when she was 18.

Ms Carreira, who is now 30, has followed in the footsteps of acclaimed filmmakers Bill Douglas, Peter Greenaway, Lynne Ramsay and Andrea Arnold in winning the Sutherland Award.

On Falling, which she made in Edinburgh and Glasgow, is the first British film to win the awards since Clio Barnard's The Arbor in 2010.

On Falling, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, went on to win Carreira the best director prize after its European premiere at the San Sebastián Film Festival.

Ms Carreira drew on her own financial struggles when she was studying film at Edinburgh College of Art while juggling working at the Jenners department store cafe on Princes Street and as a carer in the city. The film was also heavily influenced by interviews the Edinburgh-based filmmaker carried out with real-life warehouse pickers in Scotland.

The Sutherland Award jury hailed On Falling as “a powerful, mesmerising and bold first feature."

The jury added: "On Falling is a richly-layered portrait of a world governed by corporate profit motive, as seen through the story of an immigrant woman whose alienation we feel deeply, told with masterful cinematic precision and understated, lived in performances. 

"A powerful, mesmerising and bold first feature. Congratulations to Laura Carreira. We look forward to seeing where her cinematic journey goes next.”

Ms Carreira said: "I’m so honoured to receive the Sutherland Award for On Falling and for our film to join the long list of winners, which includes some of my favourite films and most important cinema reference points. 

"This award is shared with our incredible cast and crew who brought this film to life. We hope it speaks to the relentless and dehumanising growth of neoliberalism while reminding us that human nature will keep resisting. We offer our film in solidarity.”