Welsh fishing village drama Black Church Bay, Balkan music story Surviving Earth, and political satire Straight Circle lead the British Independent Film Awards (Bifas) new talent filmmaker longlists, with three spots each across the four lists.
Each film is longlisted for breakthrough producer, best debut screenwriter, and best debut director; with the list for best debut director – feature documentary also announced.
Scroll down for the full new talent longlists
Black Church Bay writer-director Rhys Marc Jones is listed in the screenwriter and director categories, with Alex Polunin selected in the producer section. Thea Gajic and producer Sophie Reynolds repeat those selections for Surviving Earth; with Oscar Hudson and producer Rik Green doing likewise for Straight Circle.
Director Molly Manners and screenwriter Miriam Battye are both listed for Extra Geography, as are Samuel Abrahams and Miranda Campbell Bowling, as director and co-writer respectively of Lady.
Louis Paxton is selected in both director and screenwriter categories for debut feature The Incomer. Paxton was selected as a Screen Rising Star Scotland earlier this year.
Other former Screen awardees on the longlists include 2026 Screen Star Bertil Nilsson, in writer and director categories for Masc; 2025 Stars Ted Evans as director of Retreat and Jess O’Kane as writer of Bad Apples; 2016 Star Billy Lumby as writer and director of Florid; and Ashley Walters, a Screen Star in the inaugural 2004 edition as an actor, longlisted for best debut director for Animol.
The documentary list includes Ed Sayers for Super Nature and Suki Chan for Conscious.
Longlists for cinema of the year and breakthrough performance were announced earlier this week. Extra Geography, Straight Circle and Surviving Earth lead the way across all lists so far, with four selections each.
The nominees in each category will be announced on Monday, November 3, with the winners revealed at the Bifa ceremony on Sunday, December 6.
Bifa new talent longlists 2026
Breakthrough producer
Itab Azzam, Jack MacInnes, Will Anderson, James Bluemel, Andrew Palmer — One in a Million (also produced by Raney Aronson-Rath)
Joanna Boateng — Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story (also produced by Lizzie Gillett, Ian Bonhôte, Andrew Calof)
Branwen Cennard — Effi o Blaenau
Rik Green — Straight Circle (also produced by Kevin Rowe, Thomas Benski, Riaz Rizvi)
Lauren Greenwood — Underland (also produced by Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel, Jessica Harrop)
Tom Hawkins — Animol (also produced by Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor, Nick Love, Ashley Walters)
Sarah Howitt — Bel
Beya Kabelu, Ellie Phillips — Tutu (also produced by Johnny Webb)
James Lewis — Out Laws
Danny Page, Simon Kay — California Schemin’ (also produced by Paul Aniello, Michael Mendelsohn)
William Parry — Life Support
Oskar Pimlott — Bad Apples
Filippo Polesel — Rain Catcher (also produced by Julien Loeffler, James Kermack)
Alex Polunin — Black Church Bay (also produced by Tristan Goligher)
Sophie Reynolds — Surviving Earth (also produced by Aleksandra Bilić)
Best debut screenwriter
Miriam Battye — Extra Geography
Miranda Campbell Bowling — Lady (also written by Samuel Abrahams)
Thea Gajić — Surviving Earth
Elaine Gracie, Archie Thomson — California Schemin’
Oscar Hudson — Straight Circle
Billy Lumby — Florid
Rhys Marc Jones — Black Church Bay
Ciarán McMenamin — Skintown
Bertil Nilsson — Masc
Jess O’Kane — Bad Apples
Louis Paxton — The Incomer
Dallan Shovlin — You’ll Never Believe Who’s Dead
Laurence Tratalos — Misper
The Douglas Hickox Award (best debut director)
Samuel Abrahams — Lady
Ted Evans — Retreat
Thea Gajić — Surviving Earth
Grant Gee — Everybody Digs Bill Evans
Beatrice Gibson — At Night
Oscar Hudson — Straight Circle
Billy Lumby — Florid
Molly Manners — Extra Geography
Rhys Marc Jones — Black Church Bay
Maria Martínez Bayona — The End of It
Bertil Nilsson — Masc
Louis Paxton — The Incomer
Asher Rosen — Small Gods
Ashley Walters — Animol
Best debut director — feature documentary
Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak — Birds of War
Ben G. Brown — Ultimate Thunder
Suki Chan — Conscious
James Lewis, Lexi Powner — Out Laws
Robert Petit — Underland
Ed Sayers — Super Nature
Rachel Taparjan — Something Familiar
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