EXCLUSIVE: The British Independent Film Awards (Bifa) has confirmed its ceremony dates for the next three years, while adding new board members and appointing a chair and deputy chair.
The ceremony will remain at the Camden Roundhouse venue through to and including the 2027 ceremony, having taken place there last year for the first time since 2007.
The awards will take place on Sunday, November 30, 2025; on Sunday, December 6, 2026; and on Sunday, December 5, 2027.
Bifa has also set its key dates for 2025, below:
June: Entries open
August 1: Early entry deadline
August 22: Final entry deadline: shorts
September 3: Final entry deadline: features
September 15-29: Round 1 Voting (features)
From October 16: Longlist announcements
October 15-27: Round 2 Voting
November 3: Nominations announcement
November 3-25: Round 3 Voting: Craft
November 18: Nominees Party
November 20: Craft Winners announcement
November 30: Ceremony
Premier Live will handle event production management for the 2025 awards, with DDA handling media management.
The event is the first major ceremony of the UK film awards season, with Rich Peppiatt’s Kneecap leading the winners last year with seven prizes including best British independent film.
New board members
Four non-executive directors have joined the Bifa board, overseeing the strategic direction of the organisation in collaboration with its voluntary advisory and nomination committees. The four new members are: Alex Hamilton, chief international officer at Studiocanal; Martin Baker, chief commercial affairs officer at Channel 4; writer-director Rungano Nyoni, who won best director and best debut director at the 2017 Bifas for I Am Not a Witch and best director last year for On Becoming A Guinea Fowl; and Sera Holland, CEO of consultancy firm Ketchum UK.
Holland will be chair of the board, with film programmer and head of distribution and special projects at We Are Parable Carmen Thompson as deputy chair.
The other board members are Dominic Buchanan, producer and co-CEO at Home Team; Magda Lojszczyk, head of experiential at Live Nation Entertainment; Tim Platt, director of marketing & audiences at the BFI; Bifa founders Elliot Grove and Suzanne Ballantyne; and Bifa executive directors Amy Gustin and Deena Wallace.
Former Channel 4 executive Dan Brooke stands down having chaired the board for the maximum term from 2019 to 2025, and will join the board of ParalympicsGB as chair.
“Our organisations share many of the same values and are committed to nurturing, supporting and platforming creative talent,” said a statement from Gustin and Wallace about the extended partnership with the Roundhouse. “And of course it’s an excellent venue for a big party.”
“Our generous and loyal partners ATC, Broadsword, Intermission Film and Red Chutney, amongst many others, are instrumental in creating a champagne production on a tap water budget, something many of the filmmakers we’ll be celebrating will be very familiar with.”
“The value that repeat hosting adds to our work with diverse, young, emerging filmmaking talent and the industry partnerships that help us to launch their careers is immeasurable,” said Derek Richards, head of broadcast and digital programme at the Roundhouse.
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