Akinola Davies Jr.’s Lagos-set coming-of-age story My Father’s Shadow and Harry Lighton’s kinky queer romance Pillion are among the many frontrunners on the 2025 British Unbiased Movie Awards (BIFAs), which revealed its nominations on Monday.
Unveiled by actors Ben Hardy and Saura Lightfoot-Leon at One Hundred Shoreditch in London, Davies’ directorial debut leads the BIFA nominations with 12 nods, carefully adopted by Lighton’s Pillion with 10. Each options premiered at this yr’s Cannes Movie Pageant to rave critiques. Davies and Lighton additionally scored finest debut director nominations, in addition to finest screenplay and finest debut screenwriter noms, amongst others.
Within the efficiency classes, big-name nominees embody the likes of Jennifer Lawrence for Die, My Love (which obtained eight BIFA nods in whole), Cillian Murphy for Steve, in addition to David Jonsson and Tom Blyth for Wasteman.
Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgard are nominated for finest lead and finest supporting efficiency, respectively, for Pillion, whereas Robert Aramayo will compete with fellow lead actors for his flip in Kirk Jones’ I Swear, which obtained 9 BIFA nominations in whole. He’ll go up towards Frank Dillane, who’s nominated for his flip in Harris Dickinson’s Urchin.
Elsewhere, Dickinson has netted finest debut director and finest British impartial movie nods for Urchin for a complete of six. Tim Key and Tom Basden have been nominated for finest joint lead efficiency in The Ballad of Wallis Island (5 whole), with Andrea Riseborough and Brenda Blethyn nominated in the identical class for Paul Andrew Williams’ Dragonfly.
Ebada Hassan and Safiyya Ingar are, too, nominated in one of the best joint lead efficiency class for Nadia Fall’s debut function Brides, and each have secured a breakthrough efficiency nomination. On this class, they’ll compete with Posy Sterling for Lollipop and Connor Tompkins for The Son and The Sea.
Alex Garfield’s boots-on-the-ground army drama Warfare has gained finest ensemble efficiency award, it was confirmed on Monday, with D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Package Connor, Finn Bennett, Joseph Quinn, and Charles Melton honored among the many movie’s six craft nominations.
In one of the best worldwide function class, Jafar Panahi’s It Was Simply An Accident go up towards Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Worth, Sirāt from Oliver Laxe, Eva Victor’s Sorry, Child and Mascha Schilinski’s Sound of Falling.
Breakthrough producer nominations go to Wyn Baptiste for activism documentary Shoot the Folks, Charlotte Knowles for cross-border doc Palestine Comedy Membership, Joann Kushner for screenlife heist film LifeHack and Dhiraj Mahey for social-realist coming-of-age drama Ish.
Take a look at the complete listing of nominees for the 2025 BIFAs beneath.
Greatest British Unbiased Movie
The Ballad of Wallis Island
I Swear
My Father’s Shadow
Pillion
Urchin
Greatest Director
Laura Carreira, On Falling
Akinola Davies Jr., My Father’s Shadow
Kirk Jones, I Swear
Harry Lighton, Pillion
Lynne Ramsay, Die, My Love
Greatest 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
Greatest Lead Efficiency
Robert Aramayo, I Swear
Frank Dillane, Urchin
David Jonsson, Wasteman
Jennifer Lawrence, Die, My Love
Harry Melling, Pillion
Cillian Murphy, Steve
Greatest Supporting Efficiency
Tom Blyth, Wasteman
Scott Ellis Watson, I Swear
Jay Lycurgo, Steve
Peter Mullan, I Swear
Maxine Peake, I Swear
Alexander Skarsgard, Pillion
Greatest Joint Lead Efficiency
Ebada Hassan, Saffiya Ingar, Brides
Tim Key, Tom Basden, The Ballad of Wallis Island
Andrea Riseborough, Brenda Blethyn, Dragonfly
Greatest Ensemble Efficiency
D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Package Connor, Finn Bennett, Joseph Quinn, Charles Melton, Warfare (WINNER)
The Douglas Hickox Award (Greatest 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 Folks
Charlotte Knowles, Palestine Comedy Membership
Joann Kushner, LifeHack
Dhiraj Mahey, Ish
Archie Pearch, Urchin
Breakthrough Efficiency
Scott Ellis Watson, I Swear
Ebada Hassan, Brides
Safiyya Ingar, Brides
Posy Sterling, Lollipop
Connor Tompkins, The Son and The Sea
Greatest 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
Greatest Debut Director — Function Documentary
Myrid Carten, A Need in Her
Cecile Embleton, Alys Tomlinson, Mom Vera
Victoria Mapplebeck, Motherboard
The Raindance Maverick Award
Foul Evil Deeds, Richard Hunter
Holloway, Sophie Compton, Daisy-Could Hudson, Stella Heath Keir, Alice Hughes, Polly Creed
Mom Vera, Cecile Embleton, Alys Tomlinson, Laura Shacham
Motherboard, Victoria Mapplebeck
A Need in Her, Myrid Carten
Greatest Function Documentary
Antidote, James Jones, David Moulton
Mom Vera, Cecile Embleton, Alys Tomlinson, Laura Shacham
Motherboard, Victoria Mapplebeck
The Shepherd and The Bear, Max Keegan, Elizabeth Woodward, Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss
A Need in Her, Myrid Carten, Tadgh O’Sullivan, Roisin Geraghty, Kat Mansoor
Greatest British Brief Movie
Flock, Max Nixon, Matt Ashwell, Daley Nixon
Magid/Zafar, Luis Hindman, Sufiyaan Salam, Aidan Robert Brooks
A Sisphyean Job, Gus Flind-Henry, George Malcher, George Telfer
Abdomen Bug, Matty Crawford, Karima Sammout Kanellopoulou
Two Black Boys in Paradise, Ben Jackson, Baz Sells, Dean Atta
Greatest Worldwide Unbiased Movie
It Was Simply An Accident
Sentimental Worth
Sirāt
Sorry, Child
Sound of Falling
Greatest Casting
Shaheen Baig, Brides
Shaheen Baig, Urchin
Kharmel Cochrane, Warfare
Laura Evans, I Swear
Robert Sterne, Steve
Greatest Cinematography
Charlotte Bruus Christensen, H Is for Hawk
Jermains Edwards, My Father’s Shadow
Cecile Embleton, Mom Vera
Seamus McGarvey, Die, My Love
Piotr Niemyjski, A Pale View of Hills
Greatest Costume Design
Susie Coulthard, 100 Nights of Hero
Kirsty Halliday, Twister
Grace Snell, Pillion
Sayaka Takahashi, Matthew Value, A Pale View of Hills
PC Williams, My Father’s Shadow
Greatest Modifying
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
Greatest Results
Simon Stanley-Clamp, Ryan Conder, Warfare
Victor Tomi, Die, My Love
Hayley Williams, Conor O’Sullivan, Martin Malmqvist, The Factor With Feathers
Greatest Music Supervision
Phil Canning, Wasteman
Ian Neil, Raife Burchell, Die, My Love
Bridget Samuels, Urchin
Greatest Make-Up & Hair Design
Kehinde Are, Feyzo Oyebisi, My Father’s Shadow
Diandra Ferreira, Pillion
Paul Gooch, Tristan Versluis, Warfare
Coleen Labaff, Miho Suzuki, Die, My Love
Natasha Lawes, 100 Nights of Hero
Greatest Authentic Music
Tom Basden, Adem Ilhan, The Ballad of Wallis Island
Bobby Krlic, Anemone
Jed Kurzel, Twister
CJ Mirra, My Father’s Shadow
Steven Value, Ocean With David Attenborough
Greatest Manufacturing 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
Greatest 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 Crew, Warfare
The Richard Harris Award for Excellent Contribution by an Actor to British Movie
To be introduced later