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Akinola Davies Jr’s My Father’s Shadow, Harry Lighton’s Pillion and Kirk Jones’s I Swear lead the nominations for the 2025 British Independent Film Awards (Bifas).
Davies Jr’s feature debut scored 12 nominations, including for best British independent film, director, debut director, screenplay and debut screenwriter.
Scroll down for the full list of nominees
Pillion, another feature debut from Harry Lighton, followed with 10 nominations, including in the same five categories mentioned above; while Jones’s I Swear took nominations for best British independent film, director and screenplay.
The three films were joined in the best British independent film category by Harris Dickinson’s Urchin, which scored six nominations, and James Griffiths’ The Ballad Of Wallis Island, which took five.
Joining Davies Jr, Lighton and Jones in the best director category are Lynne Ramsay for Die My Love, one of eight nominations for the film, and Laura Carreira for On Falling, which received four nominations – all for Carreira, in director, screenplay, debut director and debut screenwriter.
Acting nominees include Jennifer Lawrence for Die My Love, Cillian Murphy for Steve and Robert Aramayo for I Swear in best lead performance; and Alexander Skarsgard for Pillion, and I Swear trio Peter Mullan, Maxine Peake and Scott Ellis Watson in best supporting performance.
One prize has been awarded already – best ensemble performance, to the cast of Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s Warfare.
Nominees for the inaugural cinema of the year prize are the Depot Cinema in Lewes; The Magic Lantern Cinema in Tywyn, Wales; Scotland’s Montrose Playhouse; Belfast’s Queen’s Film Theatre; and Bristol’s Watershed. A second round of public voting running until 23.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 25 will now select the winner in that category.
Davies Jr, Lighton and Dickinson are among several nominees to have previously been named Screen Stars of Tomorrow.
Winners will be unveiled at the Bifa ceremony at the Roundhouse in Camden, London on Sunday, November 30.
Bifa 2025 nominees
Best British Independent Film
The Ballad Of Wallis Island - James Griffiths, Tom Basden, Tim Key, Rupert Majendie
I Swear - Kirk Jones, Georgia Bayliff, Piers Tempest
My Father’s Shadow - Akinola Davies Jr, Wale Davies, Rachel Dargavel, Funmbi Ogunbanwo
Pillion - Harry Lighton, Lee Groombridge, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Emma Norton
Urchin - Harris Dickinson, Archie Pearch, Scott O’donnell
Cinema Of The Year
Depot Cinema
The Magic Lantern Cinema
Montrose Playhouse
Queen’s Film Theatre
Watershed
Best Director
Laura Carreira - On Falling
Akinola Davies Jr - My Father’s Shadow
Kirk Jones - I Swear
Harry Lighton - Pillion
Lynne Ramsay - Die My Love
Best Screenplay
Tom Basden, Tim Key - The Ballad Of Wallis Island
Laura Carreira - On Falling
Wale Davies - My Father’s Shadow
Kirk Jones - I Swear
Harry Lighton - Pillion
Best Lead Performance
Robert Aramayo - I Swear
Frank Dillane - Urchin
David Jonsson - Wasteman
Jennifer Lawrence - Die My Love
Harry Melling - Pillion
Cillian Murphy - Steve
Best Supporting Performance
Tom Blyth - Wasteman
Scott Ellis Watson - I Swear
Jay Lycurgo - Steve
Peter Mullan - I Swear
Maxine Peake - I Swear
Alexander Skarsgard - Pillion
Best Joint Lead Performance
Ebada Hassan, Saffiya Ingar - Brides
Tim Key, Tom Basden - The Ballad Of Wallis Island
Andrea Riseborough, Brenda Blethyn - Dragonfly
Best Ensemble Performance - Winner
Warfare - D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Kit Connor, Finn Bennett, Joseph Quinn, Charles Melton
The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director)
Laura Carreira - On Falling
Akinola Davies Jr - My Father’s Shadow
Harris Dickinson - Urchin
Harry Lighton - Pillion
Cal McMau - Wasteman
Breakthrough Producer
Wyn Baptiste - Shoot The People
Charlotte Knowles - Palestine Comedy Club
Joann Kushner - LifeHack [also produced by Timur Bekmambetov, Aleksandr Kletzov]
Dhiraj Mahey - Ish [also produced by Bennett McGhee]
Archie Pearch - Urchin [also produced by Scott O’Donnell]
Breakthrough Performance
Scott Ellis Watson - I Swear
Ebada Hassan - Brides
Safiyya Ingar - Brides
Posy Sterling - Lollipop
Connor Tompkins - The Son And The Sea
Best Debut Screenwriter
Hunter Andrews, Eoin Doran - Wasteman
Tom Basden, Tim Key - The Ballad Of Wallis Island
Laura Carreira - On Falling
Wale Davies - My Father’s Shadow
Harry Lighton - Pillion
Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary
Myrid Carten - A Want In Her
Cecile Embleton, Alys Tomlinson - Mother Vera
Victoria Mapplebeck - Motherboard
The Raindance Maverick Award
Foul Evil Deeds - Richard Hunter
Holloway - Sophie Compton, Daisy-May Hudson, Stella Heath Keir, Alice Hughes, Polly Creed
Mother Vera - Cecile Embleton, Alys Tomlinson, Laura Shacham
Motherboard - Victoria Mapplebeck
A Want In Her - Myrid Carten
Best Feature Documentary Sponsored By Intermission Film
Antidote - James Jones, David Moulton
Mother Vera - Cecile Embleton, Alys Tomlinson, Laura Shacham
Motherboard - Victoria Mapplebeck
The Shepherd And The Bear - Max Keegan, Elizabeth Woodward, Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss
A Want In Her - Myrid Carten, Tadhg O’Sullivan, Roisin Geraghty, Kat Mansoor
Best British Short Film
Flock - Mac Nixon, Matt Ashwell, Daley Nixon
Magid / Zafar - Luis Hindman, Sufiyaan Salam, Aidan Robert Brooks
A Sisyphean Task - Gus Flind-Henry, George Malcher, George Telfer
Stomach Bug - Matty Crawford, Karima Sammout Kanellopoulou
Two Black Boys In Paradise - Ben Jackson, Baz Sells, Dean Atta
Best International Independent Film
It Was Just An Accident - Jafar Panahi, Phillippe Martin
Sentimental Value - Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt, Maria Ekerhovd, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar
Sirāt - Oliver Laxe, Santiago Fillol, Domingo Corral, Oriol Maymo, Andrea Queralt, Mani Mortazavi, Xavi Font, Pedro Almodovar, Agustin Almodovar, Esther García
Sorry, Baby - Eva Victor, Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins
Sound Of Falling - Mascha Schilinski, Louise Peter, Maren Schmitt, Lucas Schmidt
Best Casting
Shaheen Baig - Brides
Shaheen Baig - Urchin
Kharmel Cochrane - Warfare
Lauren Evans - I Swear
Robert Sterne - Steve
Best Cinematography
Charlotte Bruus Christensen - H Is For Hawk
Jermaine Edwards - My Father’s Shadow
Cecile Embleton - Mother Vera
Seamus McGarvey - Die My Love
Piotr Niemyjski - A Pale View Of Hills
Best Costume Design
Susie Coulthard - 100 Nights Of Hero
Kirsty Halliday - Tornado
Grace Snell - Pillion
Sayaka Takahashi, Matthew Price - A Pale View Of Hills
PC Williams - My Father’s Shadow
Best Editing
Ronan Corrigan, Aleksandr Kletsov - LifeHack
Omar Guzman Castro - My Father’s Shadow
Fin Oates - Warfare
Sam Rice-Edwards - One To One: John & Yoko
Gareth C. Scales - Pillion
Best Effects
Simon Stanley-Clamp, Ryan Conder - Warfare
Victor Tomi - Die My Love
Hayley Williams, Conor O’Sullivan, Martin Malmqvist - The Thing With Feathers
Best Music Supervision
Phil Canning - Wasteman
Ian Neil, Raife Burchell - Die My Love
Bridget Samuels - Urchin
Best Make-Up & Hair Design
Kehinde Are, Feyzo Oyebisi - My Father’s Shadow
Diandra Ferreira - Pillion
Paul Gooch, Tristan Versluis - Warfare
Colleen Labaff, Miho Suzuki - Die My Love
Natasha Lawes - 100 Nights Of Hero
Best Original Music
Tom Basden, Adem Ilhan - The Ballad Of Wallis Island
Bobby Krlic - Anemone
Jed Kurzel - Tornado
CJ Mirra, Duval Timothy - My Father’s Shadow
Steven Price - Ocean With David Attenborough
Best Production Design
Jennifer Anti, Pablo Anti - My Father’s Shadow
Mark Digby - Warfare
Tim Grimes - Die My Love
Nathan Parker - Harvest
Sofia Sacomani - 100 Nights Of Hero
Best Sound
Steve Fanagan, Stevie Haywood - Anemone
Tim Burns, Paul Davies, Linda Forsen, Andrew Stirk, Ron Osiowy - Die My Love
Nina Hartstone, Jake Whitelee, Jens Petersen, Mike Tehrani, Rob Davidson - Ish
Cj Mirra, James Ridgway, Joe Jackson, Adele Fletcher, Pius Fatoke - My Father’s Shadow
Sound Team - Warfare
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