Tanu Muino won Best Director and the Keith Schofield-directed video for Duck Sauce’s Mesmerise won the Video Of The Year at the 14th UK Music Video Awards last Thursday night (November 4th), on an emotional evening when the music video production community congregated for the first time in two years at The Roundhouse for the UKMVAs, hosted by Maisie Adam.

An audience of music video professionals from the UK and around the world saw Ukranian director Muino accept two awards on the night - Best R&B/Soul Video for Normani’s Wild Side, featuring Cardi B, and then the Best Director prize from award sponsor Electric Theatre Collective's Oscar Wendt - becoming the first woman to win one of the UKMVAs most prestigious awards.

At the climax of the show Keith Schofield was present to hear about his Video of the Year triumph - for his scurrilous video for Duck Sauce’s Mesmerize - via live link-up while sitting in his car in Los Angeles. 

Schofield had previously won the Best Dance/Electronic Video International Award for the outrageous self-animated video - created last year during lockdown. In the manner of the video, Schofield also created a thank-you video message from watermarked stock footage - a major feature of the video.

It was one of several memorable moments on an exultant evening, with saw Sam Davey of OB Management becoming the popular recipient of the Best Agent award, and Juliette Larthe being presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award, for her work as a producer and executive producer of videos for over 20 years - accepting her award from Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie.

The presentation of Larthe's Outstanding Achievement Award was accompanied by a film in which several female contemporaries gathered to acclaim her longstanding work in the industry, and achievement by women in music videos was one of the themes of the evening.

The award for Best Commissioner went to Sony Music’s Kat Cattaneo (above right, with host Maisie Adam). Precious Mahaga, EP and head of music at Agile (below left), won Best Producer, accepting the prize from Estere Sulca at award sponsor WPA (below).

Other female winners included Elise Butt, who won the Best Editor in a Video award for her work on the Little Simz video for Introvert, Taísa Malouf, winner of Best Production Designer for her work on DJ Snake & Selena Gomez’s Selfish Love; and Liz Clare, director of Dua Lipa’s Studio 2054, winner of Best Music Film. Kimberley Stuckwisch won the Best Rock Video Newcomer award for Jeremy Ivey's Someone Else's Problem, and Abigail Wilson won Best Dance/Electronic Newcomer for Modeselektor's Mean Friend.

Sam Davey's journey to the stage to collect the Best Agent award was interrupted by so many well-wishers the walk-up video and music had finished before he got there. Davey (above) then paid tribute to his fellow director's reps in the UK industry, and to his boss, Otis Bell.

Barcelona and London-based production company CANADA won the award for Best Production Company - with producer Karen Sauri (above, with mic) leading a contingent of the company staffers to the stage to collect the award, while London-based facility Electric Theatre Collective took the Best Post Production Company prize.

CANADA directors also took two UK video prizes - Best Pop Video UK for Lope Serrano’s video for Dua Lipa’s Love Again, and Best Dance/Electronic for Hot Chip’s Straight To The Morning by REALITE.

French director Aube Perrie collected two awards on the night, the Best Hip Hop/Grime/Rap International prize for Megan Thee Stallion’s Thot Shit, and then picking up the Best New Director award (above right) from Lewis Crossfield at award sponsor Time Based Arts.

Femi Ladi (above centre) won the award for Best Hip Hop/Grime/Rap UK for Pa Salieu & Backyard Gee’s My Family, collecting the award with DoP Stefan Yap (right). This was one of two awards won for Pa Salieu works, the other being Tawbox's direction of the live performance of Frontline (for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon) in the hotly contested Best Live Video category.

Several International video winners who could not attend the ceremony joined with the festivities via live link-up, including Bear Damon, director of Best Alternative Video UK winner, James Blake’s Say What You Will (above); Christian Breslauer, winner of Best Pop Video International for Lil Nas X's Industry Baby; Andzej Gavriss, for his video for Russian artist Sansara's We Will Become Better; and Arnaud Bresson for Beabadoobee’s Last Day On Earth, winner of Best Rock UK.

But there were many first time winners who accepted their awards on the night, including colourist Alex Gregory, who won Best Colour Grade in a Video for his work on Bastille's Distorted Light Beam, accepting the award from Toby Tomkins at award sponsor CHEAT (above); and DoP Michal Babinec accepting the Best Cinematography award for Califato's Fandangô de carmen porter. The award for Best Choreography for Purple Disco Machine's Fireworks, was picked up by director Greg Barth and producer Ramy Dance (below).

And amid scenes of joy and elation, the audience fell quiet when Marcel Beckford, EP at Yellow Fish Group, came on stage to pay tribute to Luke Biggins, the director, DoP and founder of Yellow Fish, who tragically died last month.

The short yet powerful speech by Beckford (above) focussed upon Luke Biggins’ dedication to making videos for British black music, and the opportunities he gave to beginners in the industry. This prompted a standing ovation from the audience - an appropriately sombre and emotional moment that found its place amid the excitement of the night.

• UK Music Video Awards 2021 - all the winners here