2026 British Independent Film Awards Nominations – Simon Stone’s ‘Elsinore’ Leads with 12

Elsinore leads the nominations for the 2026 British Independent Film Awards with 12, including Best British Independent Film and Best Director for Simon Stone.

I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning received 8 nominations, followed by Animol with 7 nominations.

Winners will be revealed at the 29th BIFA ceremony on Sunday 6 December.

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 Screenplay

Effi o Blaenau
Gary Owen

Elsinore
Stephen Beresford

I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning
Enda Walsh

Queen at Sea
Lance Hammer

Tender Loving Care
Mike Leigh

Best Director

Elsinore
Simon Stone

I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning
Clio Barnard

A Long Winter
Andrew Haigh

Rose of Nevada
Mark Jenkin

Tender Loving Care
Mike Leigh

Best Lead Performance

Animol
Tut Nyuot

Effi o Blaenau
Leisa Gwenllian

Elsinore
Andrew Scott

Faith
Erin Doherty

Florid
Jonathan Jules

Queen at Sea
Juliette Binoche

Best Ensemble Performance

I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning
Lola Petticrew  /  Daryl McCormack  /  Jay Lycurgo  /  Joe Cole  /  Anthony Boyle

Sunny Dancer
Daniel Quinn-Toye  /  Ruby Stokes  /  Earl Cave  /  Conrad Khan  /  Jasmine Elcock  /  Bella Ramsey  /  Neil Patrick Harris  /  James Norton  /  Jessica Gunning  /  Shalom Brune-Franklin  /  Josie Walker  /  James Blunt  /  Louis Gaunt

Tender Loving Care
Marion Bailey  /  Paul Jesson  /  Kate O’Flynn  /  Alice Bailey Johnson

Best Joint Lead Performance

California Schemin’
Séamus McLean Ross  /  Samuel Bottomley

The Education of Jane Cumming
Flora Nicholson  /  Clare Dunne  /  Mia Tharia

Extra Geography
Marni Duggan  /  Galaxie Clear

Small Gods
Chimpaye Florence Mariserena  /  Bizimana Hussain

Best Supporting Performance

Animol
Sekou Diaby

Elsinore
Billie Piper

Everybody Digs Bill Evans
Bill Pullman

Ink
Claire Foy

Queen at Sea
Anna Calder-Marshall

Queen at Sea
Tom Courtenay

Breakthrough Performance

Animol
Tut Nyuot

Animol
Sekou Diaby

Effi o Blaenau
Leisa Gwenllian

Extra Geography
Galaxie Clear

Florid
Jonathan Jules

The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director)

Animol
Ashley Walters

Extra Geography
Molly Manners

Florid
Billy Lumby

The Incomer
Louis Paxton

Masc
Bertil Nilsson

Best Debut Screenwriter

Bad Apples
Jess O’Kane

Black Church Bay
Rhys Marc Jones

Extra Geography
Miriam Battye

The Incomer
Louis Paxton

Surviving Earth
Thea Gajić

Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary

Birds of War
Janay Boulos  /  Abd Alkader Habak

Something Familiar
Rachel Taparjan

Super Nature
Ed Sayers

Breakthrough Producer

Animol
Tom Hawkins
also produced by Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor, Nick Love, Ashley Walters

Bad Apples
Oskar Pimlott

Black Church Bay
Alex Polunin
also produced by Tristan Goligher

Effi o Blaenau
Branwen Cennard

One in a Million
Itab Azzam  /  Jack MacInnes  /  Will Anderson  /  James Bluemel  /  Andrew Palmer
also produced by Raney Aronson-Rath

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 Bilić  /  Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan

We, the Hated
Rich Felgate  /  David Allen

The Raindance Maverick Award

Act 3
Christine Molloy  /  Joe Lawlor  /  Alex Thiele  /  Hannah Patterson

Chatlines
Lloyd Eyre-Morgan  /  Paul Mortlock  /  Neil Ely

Masc
Bertil Nilsson

The Peril at Pincer Point
Noah Stratton-Twine  /  Jake Kuhn

Something Familiar
Rachel Taparjan  /  Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan  /  Aleksandra Bilić  /  Elena Martin

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 Calvo  /  Javier Ambrossi

La Gradiva
Marine Atlan  /  Anne Brouillet  /  Inès Daïen Dasi

Possible Love
Lee Chang-dong  /  Oh Jung-mi

Best British Short Film

Allies in Exile
Orlando von Einsiedel  /  Hasan Kattan

Coyotes
Said Zagha  /  Myriam Sassine  /  Laura Jumel

Forgotten Spaceman
Lorraine Bhattachary  /  Elham Ehsas

Untitled Woman
Sorcha Bacon  /  Camille Summers-Valli  /  Rosmarie Vind  /  Martha McGuirk  /  David Zander

Vote Gavin Lyle
Aneil Karia  /  Scott O’Donnell  /  Tom Gardner

Best Casting

Animol
Heather Basten

Elsinore
Jessica Ronane

Extra Geography
Lucy Pardee

Florid
Lara Manwaring

I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning
Shaheen Baig

Best Cinematography

Elsinore
Mike Eley

Everybody Digs Bill Evans
Piers McGrail

I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning
Simon Tindall

A Long Winter
André Turpin

Straight Circle
Christopher Ripley

Best Costume Design

Elsinore
Mel Page

The Incomer
Sarah Blenkinsop

A Long Winter
Carol Case

Savage House
Alex Bovaird

Straight Circle
Darion Hing

Best Editing

Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story
Otto Burnham

Elsinore
Valerio Bonelli

I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning
Maya Maffioli

Ink
Fin Oates

Straight Circle
Fouad Gaber

Best Effects

The Incomer
Daniel Morris

The Magic Faraway Tree
Ruslan Borysov  /  Richard Cheal  /  Tim Ledbury

Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom
Jon Biggins  /  Jeff Dillon

Best Make-Up & Hair Design

Elsinore
Nadia Stacey

Madfabulous
Nadia Stacey

The Magic Faraway Tree
Karen Hartley-Thomas

Savage House
Jacquetta Levon

Straight Circle
Tristan Versluis

Best Music Supervision

I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning
Connie Farr

Queen at Sea
Connie Farr

Sunny Dancer
Phil Canning

Best Original Music

Effi o Blaenau
Siôn Trefor  /  Ioana Selaru

Elsinore
Stefan Gregory

Everybody Digs Bill Evans
Roger Goula

Rose of Nevada
Mark Jenkin

Underland
Hannah Peel

Best Production Design

Elsinore
Helen Scott

Ink
Gareth Pugh  /  Carson McColl

The Magic Faraway Tree
Alexandra Walker

Savage House
Gary Williamson

Straight Circle
Luke Moran-Morris

Best Sound

Everybody Digs Bill Evans
Andy Coles  /  John Brennan

Florid
Dario Swade  /  George Elliott  /  Tom Harburt

Ink
Simon Hayes  /  Johnnie Burn

A Long Winter
Joakim Sundström  /  Paul Cotterell  /  Ron Osiowy

Rose of Nevada
Mark Jenkin  /  Ian Wilson

Cinema of the Year

Abbeygate Cinema

Campus West

The Hippodrome Cinema

The Kinema in the Woods

The Ultimate Picture Palace