The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports and promotes British independent cinema and filmmaking talent in

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early November, with the ceremony itself taking place in early December. Since 2015, BIFA has also hosted UK-wide talent development and film screening programmes with the support of Creative Skillset and the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

History

The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) were created in 1998 by Elliot Grove and Suzanne Ballantyne of the

Raindance Film Festival Raindance is an independent film festival and film school that operates in major cities including London, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Budapest, Berlin, and Brussels. The festival was established in 1992 by Elliot Grove to ...

, with the aim of celebrating merit and achievement in independently funded British filmmaking, honouring new talent and promoting British films and filmmaking to a wider public audience. BIFA founding members include Phillip Alberstat,

Chris Auty Chris Auty (born 1957) is a British film executive, journalist and producer. Outlets for his early journalism included ''Time Out (magazine), Time Out'', ''Sight and Sound'', and ''The Hollywood Reporter'', and his producing/executive producing c ...

, André Burgess, Sally Caplan, Pippa Cross,

Christopher Fowler Christopher Fowler (born 26 March 1953) is an English thriller writer. While working in the British film industry he became the author of fifty novels and short-story collections, including the Bryant & May mysteries, which record the adventures ...

, Lora Fox Gamble, Steven Gaydos,

Norma Heyman Norma Heyman (born 1937) is a British film producer and actress. Heyman produced the 1983 independent film, '' The Honorary Consul'' in 1983, becoming the first British woman to produce an independent feature film entirely by herself. In 1988, Hey ...

, Emma E. Hickox, Fred Hogge, Robert Jones, Steve Kenis, Alberto Lopez, Ollie Madden, Hamish McAlpine, Neil McCartney,

Saul Metzstein Saul Metzstein (born 30 December 1970) is a Scottish film director. He won the British Academy Scotland New Talent Award for best director in 2002 for '' Late Night Shopping''. Metzstein is the son of Isi Metzstein, the renowned modernist a ...

, Martin Myers, Sarah Radclyffe, Tracey Scoffield,

Mark Shivas Mark Shivas (24 April 1938 – 11 October 2008) was a British television producer, film producer and executive. Shivas was born in Banstead in Surrey. His father was an English teacher; his mother was a librarian. He attended Whitgift School i ...

, Jim Wilson, and Michiyo Yoshizaki. The first BIFA ceremony took place on 29 October 1998. Winners included

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty (''Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessne ...

(for ''My Name is Joe''), Shane Meadows (for ''Twentyfour Seven'') and Ray Winstone (for ''Nil by Mouth''). The Special Jury Prize was awarded to Nik Powell, and the Best British Independent Film award went to ''My Name is Joe''.

Ceremony

The BIFA ceremony takes place in early December every year and is one of the first dates in the annual awards season. Most of the awards categories are for British independent feature films only, though there are awards for Best International Independent Film and Best British Short Film. There are also several honorary awards, such as the Special Jury Prize, the Richard Harris Award and the Variety Award. Awarded since 2013, the trophy has been a sculpture by Fredrikson Stallard for

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Award categories

Current categories

* Best British Independent Film *

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...

* Best Screenplay * Best Lead Performance * Best Supporting Performance * Best Joint Lead Performance * Best Ensemble Performance * Breakthrough Performance * Best Documentary * Best British Short Film * Best International Independent Film * Best Casting * Best Cinematography * Best Costume Design * Best Editing * Best Effects * Best Make-Up & Hair Design * Best Original Music * Best Music Supervision * Best Production Design * Best Sound * The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) * Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary * Best Debut Screenwriter * Breakthrough Producer * The Discovery Award * The Richard Harris Award (hon) * The Variety Award (hon) * The Special Jury Prize (hon)

Discontinued categories

* Achievement in Production (1998–2014) * Producer of the Year (1999–2002, 2015) * Best Technical Achievement (2001–2016) * Best Actor (1998–2021) *

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...

(1998–2021) * Best Supporting Actor (2008–2021) * Best Supporting Actress (2008–2021)

Entry criteria

BIFA entries close in late August / early September. Main categories (British feature films): * Films must be over 70 minutes in length. * Films must have had a public screening to a paying audience, either on general release in the UK or at a British film festival or at one of BIFA's recognised international festivals. * Must be produced or majority co-produced by a British production company, or be in receipt of at least 51% of its budget from British source(s) and have sufficient British creative elements (e.g. Director, Writer, Producer, other cast & crew). * Where there is a major studio substantially funding a film, the total budget must not exceed $20 million. Best International Independent Film: * Films must have had a theatrical release in the UK within BIFA's eligibility dates for the given year, or have won an award at one of BIFA's recognised international film festivals.

Voting process

BIFA has a large pool of voters that consists of past BIFA winners and nominees, top British film industry professionals and experienced filmmakers from all areas of production. Although the pool is continually growing, fewer than 200 voters vote for the nominations in any one year. All entered films must be seen by a minimum number of voters and discussed at a voter meeting before being marked as having been given fair consideration. Once all entered films have been given fair consideration, votes are cast privately in two rounds: once to reduce all entries to long lists of around 15 films in each category, and again to reduce the long lists to the 5 final nominees. In calculating the results, BIFA takes into account the number of voters who have seen each film as well as how many voted for it. The winners in most categories are decided by independent juries, newly–appointed each year. Juries meet to discuss all nominations before voting confidentially for the winner. Exceptions include the honorary awards and the award for Best British Independent Film, the winner of which is decided by a confidential vote amongst all BIFA voters.

Year-round activity

Since 2015, BIFA has also hosted UK–wide talent development and film screening programmes with the support of Creative Skillset and the BFI.

BIFA Insider

Running from September 2015 to June 2016, BIFA Insider gave UK–based university and film school students the chance to watch award-winning British films for free online and participate in

live-streamed Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but no ...

Q&As with top craftspeople who worked on those films. Sessions included ''

The Lobster ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' with production designer Jaqueline Abrahams, '' The Selfish Giant'' with casting director Amy Hubbard and ''

Frank Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curr ...

'' with composer Stephen Rennicks.

BIFA Presents

BIFA Presents is an ongoing project wherein BIFA supports the theatrical distribution of award-nominated and -winning films with special preview and event screenings. In February 2017, BIFA Presents hosted exclusive previews of the Oscar-winning ''

Moonlight Moonlight consists of mostly sunlight (with little earthlight) reflected from the parts of the Moon's surface where the Sun's light strikes. Illumination The intensity of moonlight varies greatly depending on the lunar phase, but even the ful ...

'' in conjunction with Everyman Cinemas.

BIFA Independents

BIFA Independents is a series of regular screenings of films featuring BIFA-winning and nominated talent. Supported by the BFI,

Odeon Cinemas Odeon, stylised as ODEON, is a cinema brand name operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Norway, which along with UCI Cinemas and Nordic Cinema Group is part of the Odeon Cinemas Group subsidiary of AMC Theatres. It uses the famous name of ...

Vue Cinemas Vue International (, like "view"), is a multinational cinema holding company based in London, England. It operates in the United Kingdom and Ireland as Vue, with international operations in Denmark and Germany (as CinemaxX); Italy (as The Space ...

and

Everyman Cinemas Everyman Media Group plc (known as Everyman Cinemas) is a cinema company based in London, England. The company was founded in 2000, when entrepreneur Daniel Broch bought the original Everyman Cinema in Hampstead, London, which dated to 1933, ...

, the screenings take place in 20 UK locations and aim to increase the number of people who watch British independent films at the cinema. The first BIFA Independents screening was in December 2016, featuring Andrea Arnold's Best British Independent Film-winning ''

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''.

Patrons

BIFA Patrons include: *

Mike Figgis Michael Figgis (born 28 February 1948) is an English film director, screenwriter, and composer. He was nominated for two Academy Awards for his work in ''Leaving Las Vegas'' (1995). Figgis was the founding patron of the independent filmmakers o ...

Tom Hollander Thomas Anthony Hollander (; born 25 August 1967) is an English actor. As a child Hollander trained with the National Youth Theatre and was later involved in stage productions as a member of the Footlights and was president of the Marlowe Soci ...

Adrian Lester Adrian Anthony Lester (born Anthony Harvey; 14 August 1968) is a British actor, director and writer. He is the recipient of a Laurence Olivier Award, an Evening Standard Theatre Award and a Critics' Circle Theatre Award for his work on the Lo ...

Ewan McGregor Ewan Gordon McGregor ( ; born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British ...

Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren (born Helen Lydia Mironoff; born 26 July 1945) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, she is the only performer to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting in both the United States and the United Kingdom. ...

Samantha Morton Samantha Jane Morton (born 13 May 1977) is an English actress and director. Known for her work in independent cinema, she is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for tw ...

James Nesbitt William James Nesbitt (born 15 January 1965) is an actor from Northern Ireland. From 1987, Nesbitt spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical '' Up on the Roof'' (1987, 1989) to the political drama ''Paddywack'' (1994) ...

Michael Sheen Michael Christopher Sheen OBE (born 5 February 1969) is a Welsh actor, television producer and political activist. After training at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked mainly in theatre throughout the 1990s with stage role ...

Trudie Styler Trudie Styler (born 6 January 1954) is an English actress and film producer. Early life and family Styler was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, the daughter of Pauline and Harry Styler, a farmer and factory worker. When Styler was two years ...

Tilda Swinton Katherine Matilda Swinton (born 5 November 1960) is a British actress. Known for her roles in independent films and blockbusters, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award, in addition to ...

Meera Syal Meera Syal FRSL (born Feroza Syal; 27 June 1961) is a English comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created '' Goodness Gracious Me'' and portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, ...

David Thewlis David Wheeler (born 20 March 1963), better known as David Thewlis (), is a British actor, author, director and screenwriter. Thewlis rose to prominence when he starred in the film ''Naked'' (1993), for which he won the Cannes Film Festival Aw ...

Ray Winstone Raymond Andrew Winstone (; born 19 February 1957) is an English television, stage and film actor with a career spanning five decades. Having worked with many prominent directors, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, Winstone is perha ...

Michael Winterbottom Michael Winterbottom (born 29 March 1961) is an English film director. He began his career working in British television before moving into features. Three of his films—''Welcome to Sarajevo'', '' Wonderland'' and '' 24 Hour Party People''� ...

References

External links

Official website

IMDb page
{{Cinema of the United Kingdom 1998 establishments in the United Kingdom Awards established in 1998 British film awards