Chloé Zhao’s road movie Nomadland took home three awards at the London Critics’ Circle film awards on an evening when female film-makers dominated and Zhao’s film continued to gather momentum as the Oscars approach.
The Long Goodbye, the short film that Ahmed wrote, produced and starred in, also won British/Irish short of the year.
A strong favourite heading into the event, Nomadland won film of the year, while its star, Frances McDormand, was named actress of the year and writer-director Zhao screenwriter of the year.
Zhao’s film began generating awards buzz after it won the Golden Lion for best film at the Venice film festival, and is part of a group of films with female directors that have drawn large numbers of nominations, upending the status quo of poor representation for female film-makers.