‘Aftersun,’ ‘Blue Jean’ lead British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) nominations
Aftersun, the feature directorial debut from Scottish filmmaker Charlotte Wells, led the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) nominations announced this morning with 16 nods, including Best British Independent Film, Best Director and the Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director.
The film, inspired by Wells’s growing up years, follows a young girl (Frankie Corio) and her father (Paul Mescal) in the 90s on a holiday to Turkey where burgeoning sexuality and depression hold court in their complex relationship. Corio and Mescal are both nominated in the new Joint Lead Performance category and Corio earned a nomination on her own in Breakthrough Performance. Mescal earned an individual supporting performance nomination for God’s Creatures.
Georgia Oakley’s debut film Blue Jean was next with 13 nominations. The social drama about homophobia in Thatcher-era Britain earned nods for Best British Independent Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Debut Director nods alongside a Best Ensemble Performance nomination for the film.
Sebastián Lelio’s The Wonder followed with 12 nominations, Living from Oliver Hermanus with nine and Peter Strickland’s Flux Gourmet with seven.
Winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on December 4.
Best British Independent Film
“Aftersun” – Charlotte Wells, Barry Jenkins, Mark Ceryak, Adele Romanski, Amy Jackson
“Blue Jean” – Georgia Oakley, Hélène Sifre
“Good Luck To You, Leo Grande” – Sophie Hyde, Katy Brand, Debbie Gray, Adrian Politowski
“Living” – Oliver Hermanus, Kazuo Ishiguro, Stephen Woolley, Elizabeth Karlsen
“The Wonder” – Sebastián Lelio, Emma Donoghue, Alice Birch, Juliette Howell, Andrew Lowe, Tessa Ross, Ed Guiney
Best Director Sponsored By Sky Cinema
Oliver Hermanus – “Living”
Sophie Hyde – “Good Luck To You, Leo Grande”
Sebastián Lelio – “The Wonder”
Georgia Oakley – “Blue Jean”
Charlotte Wells – “Aftersun”
Best Screenplay
Katy Brand – “Good Luck To You, Leo Grande”
Kazuo Ishiguro – “Living”
Sebastián Lelio, Alice Birch, Emma Donoghue – “The Wonder”
Georgia Oakley – “Blue Jean”
Charlotte Wells – “Aftersun”
Best Lead Performance
Sally Hawkins – “The Lost King”
Cosmo Jarvis – “It Is In Us All”
Emma Mackey – “Emily”
Rosy McEwen – “Blue Jean”
Bill Nighy – “Living”
Florence Pugh – “The Wonder”
Emily Watson – “God’s Creatures”
Hala Zein – “Nezouh”
Best Supporting Performance
Zoey Deutch – “The Outfit”
Aisling Franciosi – “God’s Creatures”
Lucy Halliday – “Blue Jean”
Kerrie Hayes – “Blue Jean”
Zainab Joda – “Our River… Our Sky”
Fatma Mohamed – “Flux Gourmet”
Paul Mescal – “God’s Creatures”
Fionn Whitehead – “Emily”
Aimee Lou Wood – “Living”
Best Joint Lead Performance
Frankie Corio, Paul Mescal – “Aftersun”
Daryl McCormack, Emma Thompson – “Good Luck To You, Leo Grande”
Jessie Buckley, Rory Kinnear – “Men”
Tamara Lawrance, Letitia Wright – “The Silent Twins”
Best Ensemble Performance
“Blue Jean” ensemble including Rosy McEwen, Kerrie Hayes, Lucy Halliday, Lydia Page, Stacy Abalogun, Farrah Cave, Amy Booth-Steel
“Emily” ensemble including Amelia Gething, Emma Mackey, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Fionn Whitehead, Alexandra Dowling, Gemma Jones, Adrian Dunbar
“Flux Gourmet” ensemble including Makis Papadimitriou, Gwendoline Christie, Asa Butterfield, Fatma Mohamed, Ariane Labed, Richard Bremmer
“Our River… Our Sky” ensemble including Zainab Joda, Darina Al Joundi, Amed Hashimi, Mahmoud Abo Al Abbas, Basim Hajar, Labwa Arab, Meriam Abbas, Siham Mustafa
“The Wonder” ensemble including Kíla Lord Cassidy, Florence Pugh, Tom Burke, Toby Jones, Niamh Algar, Elaine Cassidy, Ciarán Hinds, Brían F. O’Byrne, Josie Walker
Breakthrough Performance Sponsored By Netflix
Frankie Corio – “Aftersun”
Leo Long – “I Used To Be Famous”
Kíla Lord Cassidy – “The Wonder”
Rosy McEwen – “Blue Jean”
Safia Oakley-Green – “The Origin”
The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) Sponsored By BBC Film
Andrew Cumming – “The Origin”
Thomas Hardiman – “Medusa Deluxe”
Frances O’connor – “Emily”
Georgia Oakley – “Blue Jean”
Charlotte Wells – “Aftersun”
Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary
Kathryn Ferguson – “Nothing Compares”
Victoria Fiore – “Nascondino” [“Hide & Seek”]
Leah Gordon, Eddie Hutton Mills – “Kanaval”
Jono McLeod – “My Old School”
Becky Hutner – “Fashion Reimagined”
Breakthrough Producer Sponsored By Pinewood And Shepperton Studios
Aleksandra Bilić, Jennifer Corcoran – “Nascondino” [Hide & Seek”]
Paul Kennedy “Nightride” [also produced by Jon Silk]
Rupert Majendie – “Brian And Charles”
Nadira Murray – “Winners” [also produced by Paul Welsh]
Hélène Sifre – “Blue Jean”
Best Debut Screenwriter Sponsored By Film4
Shane Crowley – “God’s Creatures”
David Earl, Chris Hayward – “Brian And Charles”
Ruth Greenberg – “The Origin”
Georgia Oakley – “Blue Jean”
Charlotte Wells – “Aftersun”
The Raindance Discovery Award
“Electric Malady” – Marie Lidén, Aimara Reques
“Fadia’s Tree” – Sarah Beddington, Susan Simnett
“Off The Rails” – Peter Day, Grant Keir, Rob Alexander
“Rebellion” – Elena Sánchez Bellot, Maia Kenworthy, Kat Mansoor
“Winners” – Hassan Nazer, Nadira Murray, Paul Welsh
Best Feature Documentary Sponsored By Intermission
“My Childhood, My Country – 20 Years In Afghanistan” – Phil Grabsky, Shoaib Sharifi, Amanda Wilkie
“My Old School” – Jono Mcleod, John Archer, Olivia Lichtenstein
“Nascondino” [Hide & Seek”] – Victoria Fiore, Jennifer Corcoran, Aleksandra Bilić
“Nothing Compares” – Kathryn Ferguson, Eleanor Emptage, Michael Mallie
“Young Plato” – Neasa Ní Chianáin, Declan Mcgrath, David Rane
Best British Short Film Supported By BFI Network
“A Fox In The Night” – Keeran Anwar Blessie, Benjamin Jacob Smith Honesty Roxy Rezvany, Emily Renée, Elly Camisa
“Sandstorm” – Seemab Gul, Abid Aziz Merchant
“Scale” – Joseph Pierce, Hélène Mitjavile
“Too Rough” – Sean Lìonadh, Ross Mckenzie, Alfredo Covelli
Best International Independent Film Sponsored By Champagne Taittinger
“All The Beauty And The Bloodshed” – Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin, Yoni Golijov
“Close” – Lukas Dhont, Angelo Tijssens, Michiel Dhont, Dirk Impens
“Decision To Leave” Park Chan-wook, Chung Seo-kyung
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” – Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang, Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Mike Larocca
“The Worst Person In The World” – Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar, Thomas Robsahm
Best Casting Sponsored By Casting Society & Spotlight
Shaheen Baig – “Blue Jean”
Leila Bertrand – “Our River… Our Sky”
Kharmel Cochrane – “The Silent Twins”
Kahleen Crawford – “Living”
Lucy Pardee – “Aftersun”
Best Costume Design
Jenny Beavan – “Mrs Harris Goes To Paris”
Saffron Cullane – “Flux Gourmet”
Odile Dicks-Mireaux – “The Wonder”
Frank Gallacher – “Aftersun”
Sandy Powell – “Living”
Best Cinematography Sponsored By Dirty Looks & Kodak
Alfredo De Juan – “Nascondino” [“Hide & Seek”]
Rob Hardy – “Men”
Joel Honeywell – “Kanaval”
Gregory Oke – “Aftersun”
Ari Wegner – “The Wonder”
Best Editing
Joanna Crickmay – “Elizabeth: A Portrait In Parts”
Izabella Curry – “Blue Jean”
Mátyás Fekete – “Flux Gourmet”
Mick Mahon – “Nothing Compares”
Blair McClendon – “Aftersun”
Best Original Music Sponsored By Universal Music Publishing
Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans – “God’s Creatures”
Oliver Coates – “Aftersun”
Matthew Herbert – “The Wonder”
Adam Janota Bzowski “The Origin”
Ben Salisbury, Geoff Barrow – “Men”
Best Effects
Chris Marshall – “The Feast”
David Simpson – “Men”
Ahmed Yousry – “Nezouh”
Best Sound Supported By Halo
Tim Harrison, Raoul Brand, Cassandra Rutledge – “Flux Gourmet”
Glenn Freemantle, Ben Barker, Gillian Dodders, Howard Bargoff, Mitch Low – “Men”
Jovan Ajder – “Aftersun”
Hugh Fox, Ben Baird – “The Wonder”
Dom Corbisiero, Dai Shell – “The Feast”
Best Make-Up & Hair Design
Oya Aygör, Murat Çağin – “Aftersun”
Morna Ferguson, Lorri Ann King – “The Wonder”
Siobhan Harper-Ryan – “Flux Gourmet”
Niamh Morrison – “The Origin”
Eugene Souleiman, Scarlett O’Connell – “Medusa Deluxe”
Best Music Supervision
Lucy Bright – “Aftersun
Phil Canning – “The Phantom Of The Open”
Rupert Hollier – “Living”
Best Production Design
Fletcher Jarvis – “Flux Gourmet”
Grant Montgomery – “The Wonder”
Helen Scott – “Living”
Billur Turan – “Aftersun”
Gary Williamson – “Medusa Deluxe”
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), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) 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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