2025 British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) Nominations: Akinola Davies Jr.’s ‘My Father’s Shadow’ Leads with 12; ‘Urchin,’ ‘Pillion,’ ‘Die My Love’ Follow
The nominations for the 2025 British Independent Film Awards have been announced and Akinola Davies Jr.’s debut feature, My Father’s Shadow, leads with 12 nods, including Best Director and Best Screenplay.
The Cannes debut from Davies Jr., co-written by his brother Wale, was also nominated for Best British Independent Film, Best Debut Director, and Best Debut Screenwriter categories, alongside several craft categories, but curiously missed for its star, Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, nor the actors who play his sons in the film.
Harry Lighton’s debut feature Pillion was next with 10 nominations, including Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Debut Director, and Best Debut Screenwriter, as well as Best Lead Performance for Harry Melling and Best SupportingPerformance for Alexander Skarsgård.
Kirk Jones’ I Swear, a feature that chronicles the life of Tourette’s campaigner John Davison, earned nine nominations, including Best British Independent Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Lead Performance for Robert Aramayo and triple Best Supporting Performance nods for Peter Mullan, Scott Ellis Watson and Maxine Peake. Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love nabbed eight nods, including Best Director and Best Lead Performance for Jennifer Lawrence.
Urchin was a 5-time nominee with nods for Best British Independent Film, Best Lead Performance for Frank Dillane and Best Debut Director for actor Harris Dickinson.
Rounding out the Lead Performance nominees David Jonsson for Wasteman and Cillian Murphy for Steve. The Supporting Performance nominees also include Tom Blyth for Wasteman and Jay Lycurgo for Steve. Out of the 12 spots for non-gendered acting categories, only two women were nominated in individual performances, one for lead and one for supporting. Last year it was 8-4 and the previous was 9-6, both favoring actresses.
This year’s nominees for the BIFA Best International Independent Film are all International Feature Film Oscar submissions and Cannes winners save one: Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident, (France) Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value (Norway), Sirāt from Oliver Laxe (Spain), and Mascha Schilinski’s Sound of Falling (German), with Eva Victor’s debut feature Sorry, Baby the sole American film.
The 2025 BIFA Awards will take place on November 30 at the Roundhouse in London. Here is the complete list of 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
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 SKARSGÅRD – 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
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)
sponsored by BBC Film
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
CÉCILE 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 – Cécile Embleton, Alys Tomlinson, Laura Shacham
MOTHERBOARD – Victoria Mapplebeck
A WANT IN HER – Myrid Carten
Best Feature Documentary
ANTIDOTE – James Jones, David Moulton
MOTHER VERA – Cécile 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, Roisín Geraghty, Kat Mansoor
Best British Short Film
FLOCK – Mac Nixon, Matt Ashwell, Daley Nixon
MAGID / ZAFAR – Luís 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 Maymó, Andrea Queralt, Mani Mortazavi, Xavi Font, Pedro Almodóvar, Agustín Almodóvar, Esther García
SORRY, BABY – Eva Victor, Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins
SOUND OF FALLING – Mascha Schilinski, Louise Peter, Maren Schmitt, Lucas Schmidt
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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