In case you missed it, and because we’re certainly fans, the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) 2024 nominees were announced earlier this week, and they celebrate remarkable films and talent from the British film industry and beyond, with this year’s list highlights the UK’s brightest new talent alongside BIFA heroes such as Andrea Arnold, Rose Glass, Rungano Nyoni, Saoirse Ronan, Jack O’Connell, Barry Keoghan and Hayley Squires.

You ready? Of course you are, here’s some positive stuff:

Kneecap, Rich Peppiatt’s comedy following the west Belfast hip-hop trio and their mission to save their mother tongue leads the nominations with an impressive 14, including Best Director sponsored by Sky Cinema, Best Screenplay sponsored by Apple Original Films, The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) sponsored by BBC Film and Best Debut Screenwriter sponsored by Film4 for Peppiatt. The Kneecap trio Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, JJ Ó Dochartaigh are nominated for Best Joint Lead Performance. The film is also nominated for Best British Independent Film plus eight craft categories: Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society & Spotlight, Best Cinematography sponsored by Kodak & Molinare, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Music Supervision, Best Original Music sponsored by Universal Music Publishing Group, Best Production Design sponsored by ATC & Broadsword and Best Sound.

Rose Glass was a BIFA winner in 2020 for Saint Maud; her sophomore feature, the blistering noir Love Lies Bleeding, is a potent blend of romance, murder and drug enhanced bodybuilding free, which scores 12 nominations. Alongside Best British Independent Film are nominations for Best Director sponsored by Sky Cinema for Glass, Best Screenplay sponsored by Apple Original Films for Glass and Weronika Toilska, Best Joint Lead Performance for stars Katy O’Brian and Kristen Stewart, and eight craft nominations. These are Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society & Spotlight, Best Cinematography sponsored by Kodak & Molinare for Ben Fordesman, who won this award in 2020, Best Costume Design, Best Effects, Best Make-Up & Hair Design, Best Original Music sponsored by Universal Music Publishing Group for three-time nominated Clint Mansell, Best Production Design sponsored by ATC & Broadsword and Best Sound.

Based on Amy Liptrot’s best-selling novel of self-discovery and sobriety in the wilds of Orkney, The Outrun garners nine nominations, including Best British Independent Film, Best Director sponsored by Sky Cinema for Nora Fingsheidt, Best Screenplay sponsored by Apple Original Films for Fingscheidt and Amy Liptrot and Best Lead Performance for BIFA veteran Soairse Ronan, who won Best Actress in 2015 for her role in Brooklyn. Best Cinematography sponsored by Kodak & Molinare, Best Editing, Best Make-Up & Hair Design, Best Original Music sponsored by Universal Music Publishing Group and Best Sound round out the film’s nominations.

Andrea Arnold’s fifth feature Bird follows a teenager with a difficult homelife searching for a way to fly free. The film picks up seven nominations, including a Best Director sponsored by Sky Cinema nomination for Arnold, who won this award for Fish Tank in 2009, alongside Best Supporting Performance nominations for Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski, Breakthrough Performance sponsored by Netflix for star Nykiya Adams, and Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society & Spotlight, Best Editing and Best Original Music sponsored by Universal Music Publishing Group.

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, BIFA winner Rungano Nyoni’s powerful exploration of buried secrets and grief within a middle-class Zambian family also scores seven nominations: Best British Independent Film, Best Director sponsored by Sky Cinema and Best Screenplay sponsored by Apple Original Films, Best Lead Performance and Breakthrough Performance sponsored by Netflix nods for newcomer Susan Chardy, Best Supporting Performance for Elizabeth Chisela, and Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society & Spotlight for last year’s winner Isabella Odoffin.

Forbidden love, prejudice and the power of being true to yourself garners James Krishna Floyd nominations for the Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) sponsored by BBC Film and Best Debut Screenwriter sponsored by Film4 for Unicorns. Stars Ben Hardy and Jason Patel net Best Joint Lead Performance nominations, with Jason Patel also nominated for Breakthrough Performance sponsored by Netflix. With craft nominations Best Costume Design, Best Make-Up and Hair Design and Best Original Music sponsored by Universal Music Publishing Group, Unicorns has a total of seven nominations. 

First features continue to shine, with Luna Carmoon netting a Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) sponsored by BBC Film nomination for Hoard, a visceral and intense tale of unconventional love, childhood trauma, longing and redemption. Amongst its six nominations areBest Joint Lead Performance for Joseph Quinn and Saura Lightfoot-Leon, Breakthrough Performance sponsored by Netflix for Lightfoot-Leon, Best Supporting Performance for 2016 BIFA winner Hayley Squires and two craft nominations.

A Hindu widow given a chance at a new life is forced to face corruption both systemic and personal in gripping cop thriller Santosh, which has nominations for Best Screenplay sponsored by Apple Original Films and Best Debut Screenwriter sponsored by Film4 for Sandyha Suri as well as Best British Independent Film and Breakthrough Producer sponsored by Pinewood and Shepperton Studios for Balthazar De Ganay and James Bowsher.  

A surreal and darkly comedic tale of a newly-wed’s journey of discovery in Mumbai’s nocturnal world sees Karen Khandhari’s debut Sister Midnight earn her nominations for the Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) sponsored by BBC Film and Best Debut Screenwriter sponsored by Film4, plus Best Lead Performance for Radhika Apte and Best Music Supervision. 

Two families war with each other amid the harsh landscape of rural west Ireland in Christopher Andrews’ gripping thriller Bring Them Down which earns him a nomination for Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) sponsored by BBC Film and also grabs a Breakthrough Producer sponsored by Pinewood and Shepperton Studios nod for Jacob Swan Hyam. The Assessment, a future-set tale of a couple’s spiral into psychological nightmare as they fight for the right to have a child takes nominations for Best Debut Screenwriter sponsored by Film4 for writer duo Mrs & Mr Thomas, Best Lead Performance for three-time BIFA nominee Alicia Vikander and Best Production Design sponsored by ATC & Broadsword.

Completing the performance category nominations, Marianne Jean-Baptiste receives a Best Lead Performance nomination, with co-star Michele Austin taking a Best Supporting Performance nod for their roles in Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, Elliot Page has a Best Lead Performance nomination for homecoming drama Close to You, Ruaridh Mollica nets Breakthrough Performance sponsored by Netflix nod for his role as a budding writer leading a double life in Sebastian and Jack O’Connell has a Best Supporting Performance nod for 2009 BIFA nominee Sam Taylor Johnson’s Back to Black, which also received craft nominations for Best Make-Up and Hair and Best Music Supervision for Iain Cooke and Giles Martin, marking Cooke’s second BIFA nomination.  

The discovery of a dead body and the question of how to dispose of it leads two migrant workers into a bitter struggle for power, freedom and their sanity in The Ceremony, which receives nominations for The Raindance Maverick Award and Breakthrough Producer sponsored by Pinewood and Shepperton for Hollie Bryan and Lucy Meer. Also nominated in that category is Ben Toye for Treading Water, which sees a recently paroled young man search for a way to start again whilst battling an obsession with the past that might not let him move forward.  

Grand Theft Hamlet features a performance of Shakespeare’s classic tale of murder and madness enacted entirely within the confines of gamer favourite Grand Theft Auto. The film is nominated for Best Feature Documentary sponsored by Intermission Film and The Raindance Maverick Award, as well as Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary for creators Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane and Breakthrough Producer sponsored by Pinewood and Shepperton Studios for Rebecca Wolff. 

Married life is in crisis in Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other, which scoresnominations for Best Feature Documentary and Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary for Manon Ouimet and Jacob Perlmutter. The Contestant, which captures the remarkable experience of a game show participant also takes nominations for Best Feature Documentary and Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary for Clair Titley. Witches, an illuminating exploration of the unexpected connections between perinatal mental health and the history of witches in western society, nets nominations for Best Feature Documentary and The Raindance Maverick Award. Rachel Ramsey scores a nomination for Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary for her debut COPA 71, which unearths the story of the pioneering 1971 unofficial Women’s World Cup and Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, an inspiring look at the late actor and advocate’s life takes a Best Feature Documentary spot. 

Resolve and sanity is tested when a relentless party animal moves in next door in Restless and a Loatian photojournalist and a Buddhist orphan search for answers and peace far from the city in Satu – Year of The Rabbit. Both films are nominated for The Raindance Maverick Award. 

Alex Garland’s Civil War has six craft award nominations, including Best Cinematography sponsored by Kodak & Molinare nomination for Rob Hardy (his second BIFA nomination in this category) and another Best Effects nod for 2022 winner David Simpson. The film also has nominations for Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Production Design sponsored by ATC & Broadsword, and a third BIFA nomination for Glen Freemantle for Best Sound. Lee, the biopic of acclaimed war photographer Lee Miller, takes three craft nominations, Firebrand, the tense drama of Henry VIII’s 6th wife Katherine Parr’s fight for survival in blood-soaked Tudor England,hastwo, including a fourth Best Costume Design nomination for Michael O’Connor. Documentary Made in England The Films of Powell and Pressburger is recognised in Best Editing. 

Introduced in 2002 in honour of Richard Harris, The Richard Harris Award recognises outstanding contribution to British Film by an actor. Previous winners include Daniel Day Lewis, Julie Walters, John Hurt, Emma Thompson, Judi Dench, Kristin Scott Thomas, Glenda Jackson, Riz Ahmed, Samantha Morton and Stephen Graham in 2023.

This year’s award recipient will be announced in the coming weeks, as will the winner of the 2024 BIFA for Best Ensemble Performance, the ceremony host and this year’s juries

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FULL RUNDOWN!

Best British Independent Film

KNEECAP Rich Peppiatt, Trevor Birney, Jack Tarling

LOVE LIES BLEEDING Rose Glass, Weronika Tofilska, Andrea Cornwell, Oliver Kassman

ON BECOMING A GUINEA FOWL Rungano Nyoni, Tim Cole, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe

THE OUTRUN Nora Fingscheidt, Amy Liptrot, Sarah Brocklehurst, Dominic Norris, Jack Lowden, Saoirse Ronan

SANTOSH Sandhya Suri, Mike Goodridge, James Bowsher, Balthazar de Ganay, Alan McAlex

Best International Independent Film sponsored by Champagne Taittinger

ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT Payal Kapadia, Thomas Hakim, Julien Graff

ANORA Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan

LA CHIMERA Alice Rohrwacher, Carlo Cresto-Dina, Paolo Del Brocco

NO OTHER LAND Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Fabrien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning

THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG Mohammad Rasoulof, Rozita Hendijanian, Amin Sadraei, Jean-Christophe Simon, Mani Tilgner

Best Director sponsored by Sky Cinema ANDREA ARNOLD Bird NORA FINGSCHEIDT The Outrun ROSE GLASS Love Lies Bleeding RUNGANO NYONI On Becoming a Guinea Fowl RICH PEPPIATT Kneecap  Best Lead Performance RADHIKA APTE Sister Midnight SUSAN CHARDY On Becoming a Guinea Fowl MARIANNE JEAN-BAPTISTE Hard Truths ELLIOT PAGE Close to You SAOIRSE RONAN The Outrun ALICIA VIKANDER The Assessment

Best Screenplay sponsored by Apple Original Films NORA FINGSCHEIDT, AMY LIPTROT The Outrun ROSE GLASS, WERONIKA TOFILSKA Love Lies Bleeding RUNGANO NYONI On Becoming a Guinea Fowl RICH PEPPIATT Kneecap SANDHYA SURI Santosh  Best Supporting Performance MICHELE AUSTIN Hard Truths ELIZABETH CHISELA On Becoming a Guinea Fowl BARRY KEOGHAN Bird JACK O’CONNELL Back to Black FRANZ ROGOWSKI Bird HAYLEY SQUIRES Hoard

Best Joint Lead Performance JOSEPH QUINN, SAURA LIGHTFOOT-LEON Hoard KATY O’BRIAN, KRISTEN STEWART Love Lies Bleeding LIAM ÓG Ó HANNAIDH, NAOISE Ó CAIREALLÁIN, JJ Ó DOCHARTAIGH Kneecap JASON PATEL, BEN HARDY Unicorns

The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) sponsored by BBC Film CHRISTOPHER ANDREWS Bring Them Down LUNA CARMOON HoardJAMES KRISHNA FLOYD Unicorns [also directed by Sally El Hosaini] KARAN KANDHARI Sister Midnight RICH PEPPIATT Kneecap	Breakthrough Producer sponsored by Pinewood and Shepperton Studios HOLLIE BRYAN, LUCY MEER The Ceremony BALTHAZAR DE GANAY, JAMES BOWSHER Santosh [also produced by Mike Goodridge, Alan McAlex] JACOB SWAN HYAM Bring Them Down [also produced by Julianne Ford, Ivana MacKinnon, Jean-Yves Roubin, Ruth Treacey, Cassandre Warnauts] BEN TOYE Treading Water REBECCA WOLFF Grand Theft Hamlet [also produced by Julia Ton]
Breakthrough Performance sponsored by Netflix NYKIYA ADAMS Bird SUSAN CHARDY On Becoming a Guinea Fowl SAURA LIGHTFOOT-LEON Hoard RUARIDH MOLLICA Sebastian JASON PATEL Unicorns	Best Debut Screenwriter sponsored by Film4 JAMES KRISHNA FLOYD Unicorns KARAN KANDHARI Sister Midnight RICH PEPPIATT Kneecap SANDHYA SURI Santosh MRS & MR THOMAS The Assessment [also written by John Donnelly]
Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary PINNY GRYLLS, SAM CRANE Grand Theft Hamlet MANON OUIMET, JACOB PERLMUTTER Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other RACHEL RAMSAY Copa 71 [also directed by James Erskine] CLAIR TITLEY The Contestant	The Raindance Maverick Award THE CEREMONY Jack King, Hollie Bryan, Lucy Meer GRAND THEFT HAMLET Pinny Grylls, Sam Crane, Julia Ton, Rebecca Wolff RESTLESS Jed Hart, Benedict Turnbull SATU – THE YEAR OF THE RABBIT Joshua Trigg WITCHES Elizabeth Sankey, Jeremy Warmsley, Chiara Ventura, Manon Ardisson

Best Feature Documentary sponsored by Intermission Film

THE CONTESTANT Clair Titley, Megumi Inman, Andee Ryder, Amit Dey, Ian Bonhôte

GRAND THEFT HAMLET Pinny Grylls, Sam Crane, Julia Ton, Rebecca Wolff

SUPER/MAN: THE CHRISTOPHER REEVE STORY Ian Bonhôte, Peter Ettedgui, Lizzie Gillett, Robert Ford

TWO STRANGERS TRYING NOT TO KILL EACH OTHER Jacob Perlmutter, Manon Ouimet, Signe Byrge Sørensen

WITCHES Elizabeth Sankey, Jeremy Warmsley, Chiara Ventura, Manon Ardisson

Best British Short Film

DELIVERY Ben Lankester, Bophanie Lun, Joe Binks

HOUSEWARMING Liam White, Guy Lindley

MEAT PUPPET Eros V, Masha Thorpe, Leah Draws

A MOVE Elahe Esmaili, Hossein Behboudi Rad

WANDER TO WONDER Nina Gantz, Stienette Bosklopper, Simon Cartwright, Daan Bakker, Maarten Swart

Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society & Spotlight HEATHER BASTEN Hoard ISABELLA ODOFFIN On Becoming a Guinea Fowl LUCY PARDEE Bird CARLA STRONGE Kneecap MARY VERNIEU, LINDSAY GRAHAM AHANONU Love Lies Bleeding	Best Cinematography sponsored by Kodak & Molinare PAWEL EDELMAN Lee BEN FORDESMAN Love Lies Bleeding ROB HARDY Civil War YUNUS ROY IMER The Outrun RYAN KERNAGHAN Kneecap
Best Costume Design ZJENA GLAMOCANIN Kneecap MEGHAN KASPERLIK Civil War OLGA MILL Love Lies Bleeding NIRAGE MIRAGE Unicorns MICHAEL O’CONNOR Firebrand	Best Editing STEPHEN BECHINGER The Outrun JOE BINI Bird MARGARIDA CARTAXO, STUART DAVIDSON Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger JAKE ROBERTS Civil War JULIAN ULRICHS, CHRIS GILL Kneecap
Best Effects JAMES ALLEN Love Lies Bleeding GLEN MCGUIGAN, INGO PUTZE Lee DAVID SIMPSON Civil War	Best Music Supervision IAIN COOKE, GILES MARTIN Back to Black KLE SAVIDGE Sister Midnight GARY WELCH, JEANETTE REHNSTROM Kneecap
Best Make-Up & Hair Design MEGAN DAUM, FRIEDA VALENZUELA Love Lies Bleeding PETA DUNSTALL Back to Black KAT MORGAN The Outrun LISA MUSTAFA Unicorns JENNY SHIRCORE Firebrand	Best Original Music sponsored by Universal Music Publishing Group MICHAEL ‘MIKEY J’ ASANTE Kneecap BURIAL Bird STUART EARL Unicorns JOHN GÜRTLER, JAN MISERRE The Outrun CLINT MANSELL Love Lies Bleeding
Best Production Design sponsored by ATC & Broadsword BOBBIE COUSINS Hoard KATIE HICKMAN Love Lies Bleeding JAN HOULLEVIGUE The Assessment CATY MAXEY Civil War NICOLA MORONEY Kneecap	Best Sound LOUISE BURTON, BRENDAN REHILL, AZA HAND, SIMON KERR Kneecap PAUL DAVIES, ANDREW STIRK, LINDA FORSÉN, ROSE BLADH, TIM BURNS Love Lies Bleeding GLEN FREEMANTLE Civil War DOMINIK LEUBE, OSCAR STIEBITZ, JONATHAN SCHORR, GREGOR BONSE The Outrun MIKE PRESTWOOD SMITH, CSABA MAJOR, JIMMY BOYLE Lee