British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) 2026 Nominations: Complete list of nominees explored

The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) unveiled its nominations for the 2026 awards ceremony. The winners of the British Independent Film Awards will be announced on December 6 at London’s Roundhouse.

The biographical drama Elsinore is leading the list of British Independent Film Awards with nominations in a total of 12 categories. Simon Stone’s movie earned nominations in all major categories, including Best British Independent Film, Director, Screenplay, Lead Performance, Supporting Performance, and more. Following this, I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning took second place with nominations in 8 categories at the British Independent Film Awards.

List of the British Independent Film Awards nominees

Here’s the complete rundown of nominees for the year’s British Independent Film Awards:

Best British Independent Film

• “Effi O Blaenau” — Marc Evans, Gary Owen, Branwen Cennard
• “Elsinore” — Simon Stone, Stephen Beresford, Andrea Occhipinti, Gabrielle Tana, Pete Shilaimon, Mickey Liddell, Stefano Massenzi, Carolyn Marks Blackwood, Andrew Scott
• “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning” — Clio Barnard, Enda Walsh, Tracy O’Riordan
• “Queen at Sea” — Lance Hammer, Tristan Goligher
• “Tender Loving Care” — Mike Leigh, Georgina Lowe

Best Director

• Clio Barnard — “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning”
• Andrew Haigh — “A Long Winter”
• Mark Jenkin — “Rose of Nevada”
• Mike Leigh — “Tender Loving Care”
• Simon Stone — “Elsinore”

Best Lead Performance

• Juliette Binoche — “Queen at Sea”
• Erin Doherty — “Faith”
• Leisa Gwenllian — “Effi O Blaenau”
• Jonathan Jules — “Florid”
• Tut Nyuot — “Animol”
• Andrew Scott — “Elsinore”

Best Supporting Performance

• Anna Calder-Marshall — “Queen at Sea”
• Tom Courtenay — “Queen at Sea”
• Sekou Diaby — “Animol”
• Claire Foy — “Ink”
• Billie Piper — “Elsinore”
• Bill Pullman — “Everybody Digs Bill Evans”

Best Joint Lead Performance

• Séamus McLean Ross, Samuel Bottomley — “California Schemin’”
• Flora Nicholson, Clare Dunne, Mia Tharia — “The Education of Jane Cumming”
• Marni Duggan, Galaxie Clear — “Extra Geography”
• Chimpaye Florence Mariserena, Bizimana Hussain — “Small Gods”

Best Ensemble Performance

• “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning” — Anthony Boyle, Joe Cole, Jay Lycurgo, Daryl McCormack, Lola Petticrew
• “Sunny Dancer” — Bella Ramsey, Daniel Quinn-Toye, Ruby Stokes, Earl Cave, Conrad Khan, Jasmine Elcock, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Louis Gaunt, Josie Walker, Jessica Gunning, James Norton, Neil Patrick Harris, James Blunt
• “Tender Loving Care” — Marion Bailey, Paul Jesson, Kate O’Flynn, Alice Bailey Johnson

British Independent Film Awards for Best Screenplay

• Stephen Beresford — “Elsinore”
• Lance Hammer — “Queen at Sea”
• Mike Leigh — “Tender Loving Care”
• Gary Owen — “Effi O Blaenau”
• Enda Walsh — “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning”

The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director)

• Billy Lumby — “Florid”
• Molly Manners — “Extra Geography”
• Bertil Nilsson — “Masc”
• Louis Paxton — “The Incomer”
• Ashley Walters — “Animol”

British Independent Film Awards for Breakthrough Producer

• Itab Azzam, Jack MacInnes, Will Anderson, James Bluemel, Andrew Palmer — “One in a Million” (also produced by Raney Aronson-Rath)
• Branwen Cennard — “Effi O Blaenau”
• Tom Hawkins — “Animol” (also produced by Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor, Nick Love, Ashley Walters)
• Oskar Pimlott — “Bad Apples”
• Alex Polunin — “Black Church Bay” (also produced by Tristan Goligher)

Breakthrough Performance

• Galaxie Clear — “Extra Geography”
• Sekou Diaby — “Animol”
• Leisa Gwenllian — “Effi O Blaenau”
• Jonathan Jules — “Florid”
• Tut Nyuot — “Animol”

Best Debut Screenwriter

• Miriam Battye — “Extra Geography”
• Thea Gajić — “Surviving Earth”
• Rhys Marc Jones — “Black Church Bay”
• Jess O’Kane — “Bad Apples”
• Louis Paxton — “The Incomer”

Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary

• Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak — “Birds of War”
• Ed Sayers — “Super Nature”
• Rachel Taparjan — “Something Familiar”

British Independent Film Awards for Cinema of the Year

• Abbeygate Cinema
• Campus West
• Hippodrome Cinema
• The Kinema in the Woods
• The Ultimate Picture Palace

The Raindance Maverick Award

• “Act 3” — Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor, Alex Thiele, Hannah Patterson
• “Chatlines” — Neil Ely, Lloyd Eyre-Morgan, Paul Mortlock
• “Masc” — Bertil Nilsson
• “The Peril at Pincer Point” — Jake Kuhn, Noah Stratton-Twine
• “Something Familiar” — Rachel Taparjan, Monica Lăzurean-Lorgan, Elena Martin, Aleksandra Bilic

British Independent Film Awards for Best Feature Documentary

• “All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea” — Jeanie Finlay, Charlie Phillips
• “Everybody to Kenmure Street” — Felipe Bustos Sierra, Ciara Barry
• “One in a Million” — Itab Azzam, Jack MacInnes, Will Anderson, Andrew Palmer, James Bluemel, Raney Aronson-Rath
• “Something Familiar” — Rachel Taparjan, Aleksandra Bilic, Monica Lăzurean-Lorgan
• “We, the Hated” — Rich Felgate, David Allen

Best British Short Film

• “Allies in Exile” — Hasan Kattan, Orlando von Einsiedel
• “Coyotes” — Said Zagha, Myriam Sassine, Laura Jumel
• “Forgotten Spaceman” — Elham Ehsas, Lorraine Bhattachary
• “Untitled Woman” — Camille Summers-Valli, Rosmarie Vind, Sorcha Bacon, Martha McGuirk, David Zander
• “Vote Gavin Lyle” — Aneil Karia, Scott O’Donnell, Tom Gardner

Best International Independent Film

• “All of a Sudden” — Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Léa Le Dimna, David Gauquié, Julien Deris, Kôsuke Oshida, Yûji Sadai, Jean-Luc Ormières, Renan Artukmaç, Hiroko Matsuda
• “Club Kid” — Jordan Firstman, Galen Core, Alex Coco
• “La Bola Negra” — Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo
• “La Gradiva” — Marine Atlan, Anne Brouilet, Inès Daïen Dasi
• “Possible Love” — Lee Chang-dong, Oh Jung-mi

British Independent Film Awards for Best Casting

• Shaheen Baig — “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning”
• Heather Basten — “Animol”
• Lara Manwaring — “Florid”
• Lucy Pardee — “Extra Geography”
• Jessica Ronane — “Elsinore”

Best Cinematography

• Mike Eley — “Elsinore”
• Piers McGrail — “Everybody Digs Bill Evans”
• Christopher Ripley — “Straight Circle”
• Simon Tindall — “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning”
• André Turpin — “A Long Winter”

Best Costume Design

• Sarah Blenkinsop — “The Incomer”
• Alex Bovaird — “Savage House”
• Carol Case — “A Long Winter”
• Darion Hing — “Straight Circle”
• Mel Page — “Elsinore”

British Independent Film Awards for Best Editing

• Valerio Bonelli — “Elsinore”
• Otto Burnham — “Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story”
• Fouad Gaber — “Straight Circle”
• Maya Maffioli — “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning”
• Fin Oates — “Ink”

Best Effects

• Jon Biggins, Jeff Dillon — “Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom”
• Ruslan Borysov, Richard Cheal, Tim Ledbury — “The Magic Faraway Tree”
• Daniel Morris — “The Incomer”

Best Music Supervision

• Connie Farr — “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning”
• Connie Farr — “Queen at Sea”
• Phil Canning — “Sunny Dancer”

Best Make-Up & Hair Design

• Jacquetta Levon — “Savage House”
• Nadia Stacey — “Elsinore”
• Nadia Stacey — “Madfabulous”
• Karen Hartley Thomas — “The Magic Faraway Tree”
• Tristan Versluis — “Straight Circle”

British Independent Film Awards for Best Original Music

• Roger Goula — “Everybody Digs Bill Evans”
• Stefan Gregory — “Elsinore”
• Mark Jenkin — “Rose of Nevada”
• Hannah Peel — “Underland”
• Siôn Trefor, Ioana Selaru — “Effi O Blaenau”

Best Production Design

• Luke Moran-Morris — “Straight Circle”
• Gareth Pugh, Carson McColl — “Ink”
• Helen Scott — “Elsinore”
• Alexandra Walker — “The Magic Faraway Tree”
• Gary Williamson — “Savage House”

British Independent Film Awards for Best Sound

• Andy Coles, John Brennan — “Everybody Digs Bill Evans”
• Paul Cotterell, Ron Osiowy, Joakim Sundström — “A Long Winter”
• Simon Hayes, Johnnie Burn — “Ink”
• Mark Jenkin, Ian Wilson — “Rose of Nevada”
• Dario Swade, George Elliott, Tom Harburt — "Florid"

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Other films like Animol, Effi O Blaenau, and Queen at Sea also earned multiple nominations at the British Independent Film Awards.

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