The Substance wins Best Feature Film at Girls on Film Awards

The Substance won the Best Feature Film prize at the Girls on Film Awards in London on Sunday.

Writer-director Coralie Fargeat took to the stage at the Curzon Bloomsbury to accept the award for her second feature, which stars Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley.

During her acceptance speech, the French filmmaker recalled pushing back against those who wanted her to tone down the gross-out horror, which examines the treatment of ageing women in society.

"I'm very very happy and joyful to receive this award," she began. "When I was making this film, everybody wanted the movie to be less - they wanted it to be less violent, less gory, less extreme, less loud, less everything. I knew that I needed it to be more - to be more violent, more excessive and more me. The movie was meant for me to mirror what women have to face in their everyday life and in society and it is not little, it's not nice, it's not subtle, it's not delicate."

Despite the feedback, Fargeat decided to be "faithful" to her vision and her instincts as a filmmaker.

"I don't like to write dialogue. I like to make films where sound and visuals tell the story together with the performance. I love when there is a lot of blood," she continued. "I decided that, yes, I could be proud of this and I could stick to the instinct that this is the way I needed to tell my stories and to present it to the world. (There's) been a lot of fights to get there, to stick to my ideas and my vision, but I'm really so happy that today the film gets this amazing response from everywhere it's been screened and from the awards. I'm so proud to receive this one."

She went on to thank Moore, Qualley and Dennis Quaid, her producers and everyone who worked on "this crazy film".

The Girls on Film Awards, which celebrate women in the movie industry, were held just days after Fargeat became the ninth woman to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar. The Substance received five nominations overall, including Best Picture.

Elsewhere during Sunday's ceremony, Marianne Jean-Baptiste won Lead Actress for Hard Truths, Danielle Deadwyler won Supporting Actress for The Piano Lesson, Emilia Pérez won Ensemble Cast and All We Imagine as Light won Female Friendship on Screen.