As part of Screen International’s guide to the films to watch this awards season, we round up some of the key contenders from the UK.
Anemone
Dir. Ronan Day-Lewis
Triple Oscar and quadruple Bafta winner Daniel Day-Lewis’s return to acting sees him co-write with his son Ronan, here making his feature directing debut with a story of family pain and buried trauma. Sean Bean stars as a man who visits his woodland-hermit, ex-soldier brother (Day-Lewis), prompted to do so after his army-deserter stepson (Samuel Bottomley) spirals into depression. Anemone released via Focus Features in the US and Universal in the UK, and could flourish in British Bafta categories.
The Ballad Of Wallis Island
Dir. James Griffiths
Nearly two decades ago, a 2007 short film titled The One And Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island was nominated for a Bafta. The team behind its feature adaptation — about an eccentric fan who pays for his favourite folk artists to reunite for a private gig — will be hoping that Bafta voters once again take notice, and the British Independent Film Awards (Bifas) have already given encouragement with five nominations. Writers Tim Key and Tom Basden star alongside Carey Mulligan in the picture, which has garnered high-profile support — notably from Richard Curtis — since its Sundance premiere.
Brides
Dir. Nadia Fall
Young Vic theatre artistic director Fall makes her feature directing debut from a screenplay by Suhayla El-Bushra, telling the story of two mid-teen girls who quit their family homes to travel to Syria for an anticipated purposeful life. Vue Lumiere released Brides in September, and the Sundance-launched drama earned four Bifa nominations, including Ebada Hassan and Safiyya Ingar in breakthrough performance.
The Choral
Dir. Nicholas Hytner
Alan Bennett’s previous collaborations with director Hytner — The Madness Of King George, The History Boys and The Lady In The Van — collectively earned 17 Bafta and four Oscar nominations (and three wins and one win respectively). This first from the pair not based on existing Bennett source material is set in a Yorkshire town in 1916, with the titular choral society turning to working-class teens to replenish war-depleted ranks, while also recruiting a controversial new choir master (Ralph Fiennes). Sony’s successful early November UK release followed a Toronto premiere, with Sony Pictures Classics’ US launch set for December 25.
Die My Love
Dir. Lynne Ramsay
Jennifer Lawrence gives an attention-grabbing performance as a sometime writer and new mother slipping into post-partum psychosis, in the incendiary latest film from Ramsay. And it is Lawrence, a four-time Oscar nominee and one-time winner (for Silver Linings Playbook), who currently dominates awards conversation around the film. Ramsay has been Bafta-nominated seven times and has won twice (for short film Swimmer in 2013 and debut feature Ratcatcher in 2000), but has yet to secure an Oscar nod. Mubi swooped on the film out of Cannes in a $24m deal, and released in the US and UK in early November.
Dragonfly
Dir. Paul Andrew Williams
Williams made a splash with 2006 debut London To Brighton, earning a most promising newcomer Bafta nomination, but subsequent features drew mixed receptions. He is back in awards contention with this Tribeca 2025 premiere about a lonely woman (Andrea Riseborough) who provides care to her elderly neighbour (Brenda Blethyn). The actresses are Bifa-nominated in joint lead performance.
Goodbye June
Dir. Kate Winslet
This debut screenplay from Joe Anders is not — as might have been expected from a 21-year-old — a coming-of-age tale, but instead the story of four mismatched adult siblings (Winslet, Andrea Riseborough, Johnny Flynn, Toni Collette) who must set aside differences and rally round when their mother (Helen Mirren) is hospitalised in the run-up to Christmas. Anders’ own mother Winslet makes her directing debut with the family saga (which also stars Timothy Spall), and she reteams with Lee producing partner Kate Solomon via their new company 55 Jugglers. Netflix releases in cinemas and streams in December.
H Is For Hawk
Dir. Philippa Lowthorpe
Helen Macdonald’s 2014 memoir jumps to the big screen courtesy of Lowthorpe (Misbehaviour), who co-writes with Emma Donoghue (Room). Claire Foy stars as a Cambridge academic who spirals down after their father (Brendan Gleeson) dies, finding solace by focusing their energies into training a goshawk. Roadside Attractions releases in the US in December, with Lionsgate following in the UK in January. Plan B is among the producers.
Hamnet
Dir. Chloé Zhao
This film had some serious momentum even before Zhao’s adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s historical novel won the People’s Choice Award at Toronto (a reliable early indicator of a best picture Oscar nomination). Zhao already has a best picture and a director Oscar under her belt for Nomadland; stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal have both previously scored an acting nomination apiece (for The Lost Daughter and Aftersun respectively). And in Steven Spielberg, there is heavyweight producing muscle supporting the picture — and the Gotham Awards have weighed in with nominations for Buckley in lead performance and best feature.
I Swear
Dir. Kirk Jones
Studiocanal scored sustained UK and Ireland box office — $7.7m (£5.9m) to November 25 — following sizzling cinema exit scores for this biographical drama about Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson (Robert Aramayo). Outstanding British film looks the strongest Bafta hope, but I Swear could capture voter imagination across multiple categories, and Bifa has weighed in with nine nominations, including best film, best director and Aramayo in the lead performance category. Sony Pictures Classics’ US release is set for 2026, pushing the film to the 2027 Oscars.
Lollipop
Dir. Daisy-May Hudson
In a year where even the bias-conscious Bifas produced nominations dominated by male filmmakers and stories, this narrative debut from Hudson (2015 documentary Half Way) deserves attention. Posy Sterling stars as a single mother trying to reclaim custody of her kids after release from prison, then reconnecting with a childhood friend (Idil Ahmed). MetFilm released in the UK in June, following a 2024 Edinburgh International Film Festival premiere.
My Father’s Shadow
Dir. Akinola Davies Jr
The UK’s international feature Oscar entry marks the feature debut of UK-born Screen Star of Tomorrow 2020 Davies Jr, whose work often draws inspiration from his Nigerian ancestry. Leading the Bifa nominations with nods in 12 categories, the BBC Film and BFI-backed drama sees two Nige- rian boys join their father (Sope Dirisu) for an eventful immersion into Lagos during the 1993 election. Mubi will release in the UK, following its Cannes premiere in Un Certain Regard.
Pillion
Dir. Harry Lighton
Adam Mars-Jones’ 2020 novella Box Hill is the source for debut feature-maker Lighton (short Wren Boys), telling the story of a shy gay man (Harry Melling) who becomes the submissive to a dominant biker (Alexander Skarsgard). The Element Pictures production is backed by BBC Film and the BFI, and Picturehouse Entertainment/Warner Bros release in the UK following a best screenplay win in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard. A24 launches in the US in February.
Steve
Dir. Tim Mielants
Writer Max Porter adapts his own 2023 novella Shy for this latest film from Belgium’s Mielants and producer/star Cillian Murphy, following Small Things Like These. The drama spends a day in the life of a school for boys with behavioural difficulties, as the titular headteacher (Murphy) and troubled youngster Shy (Jay Lycurgo) teeter on the brink of crisis. Steve premiered in Toronto’s Platform section, and received a cinema release from backer Netflix ahead of an October streaming launch.
Urchin
Dir. Harris Dickinson
Fast-rising actor Dickinson — who plays John Lennon in Sam Mendes’s currently shooting films about The Beatles — makes his feature directing debut with the tale of a homeless man with substance abuse issues (Frank Dillane), newly released from prison and setting his sights on a home, job and drug-free life. Dillane won best actor in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, and Dickinson will be in consideration for Bafta’s outstanding British debut. Picturehouse Entertainment releases.
Warfare
Dirs. Ray Mendoza, Alex Garland
Former US Navy Seal Mendoza worked as a military supervisor on Garland’s Civil War. Following that, the pair wrote and directed this immersive real-time thriller based on Mendoza’s experiences during the Iraq War, specifically an incident in November 2006 when his platoon was pinned down by snipers. Shot in long, unbroken takes, Warfare’s visceral approach plunges the viewer headfirst into the horrors of battle. The A24 release, filmed at the UK’s Bovingdon Airfield Studios, is a notable production achievement and could emerge in craft categories, particularly editing and sound.
Wasteman
Dir. Cal McMau
Commercials director McMau makes his feature debut with the tale of a prisoner (David Jonsson) whose bid for early parole is jeopardised when a transfer (Tom Blyth) becomes his new cellmate — a charismatic agent of chaos determined to become the wing’s premier drugs supplier. Launched at Toronto in September, Wasteman — which has five Bifa nominations including for lead (Jonsson) and supporting (Blyth) performances — is released in February by Lionsgate.
No comments yet