The British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) nominations were announced by hosts Susan Wokoma and Morfydd Clark on Thursday, November 2. Raine Allen-Miller’s romantic comedy Rye Lane (2023), led the morning with sixteen nominations, followed by both Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers (2023) and Charlotte Regan’s Scrapper (2023) with fourteen nominations. Trailing behind the trio of films were Molly Wanning Walker’s How to Have Sex (2023) with thirteen nominations, and Sam H Freeman and NG Choon Ping’s Femme (2023) with eleven nominations. 

Raine Allen-Miller’s feature debut is recognized as Best Independent British Film, Miller was nominated for both Best Director and Best Debut Director (The Douglas Hickox Award), as well as Best Screenplay, Best Debut Screenwriter, and leads David Johnson and  Vivian Oparah were nominated in Best Joint Lead Performance. Oparah was also recognized in the Breakthrough Performance category. Rye Lane also received eight craft category nominations.

All of Us Strangers picked up Best Film, Best Director, and seven craft nominations. Andrew Scott was nominated for Best Lead Performance, while Paul Mescal, Claire Foy, and Jamie Bell were each nominated for Best Supporting Performance. In 2022, the acting awards changed from recognizing traditional actor and actress performances to the now-current gender-neutral categories of Best Lead and Best Supporting Performance, alongside Best Joint Lead Performance. 

The Lead Performance nominees also included Jodie Comer in The End We Start From (2023), Mia McKenna-Bruce for How to Have Sex, Tia Nomore for Earth Mama (2023), Nabhaan Rizwan for In Camera (2023), and Tilda Swinton for The Eternal Daughter (2022). 

The Richard Harris Award (introduced in 2002 in honor of Richard Harris) will be announced soon. In total, twenty-six British feature films were recognized by this year’s nominations. The awards ceremony will occur on Sunday, December 2. Read the full list of nominations at the British Independent Film Awards website. 

Source: British Independent Film Awards 

Feature Image Credit to Searchlight Pictures; ‘Rye Lane.’