Slumdog Millionaire won big at the British Independent Film Awards taking home prizes for Best Film, Best Director (Danny Boyle), and Most Promising Newcomer (Dev Patel).

The film follows Jamal Maik (Patel), who grew up in the slums of India, and competes on the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. He wins, only to be accused of cheating, and then must prove his innocence along with trying to find his love interest Latika (Freida Pinto).

The movie continues to gain extremely positive press as it opens across the nation, and has already been rumored to be an Oscar contender.

Other winners at the British Independent Film Awards included Steve McQueen’s Hunger, which tells the story of Bobby Sands, the IRA hunger striker who died for his cause of protesting Britain’s rule. McQueen won The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director and Michael Fassbender, who shed a quarter of his body weight in ten weeks to play Sands, won Best Actor.

Also, Happy-Go-Lucky won award for Best Supporting Actress (Alexis Zegerman) and Best Supporting Actor (Eddie Marsan). David Thewlis and Michael Sheen both received Lifetime Achievement Awards.

Check out Gossipsauce.com for more about Slumdog Millionaire’s big win.

 —Jessica Delli Santi