Akinola Davies Jr‘s debut feature My Father’s Shadow enters the 2025 British Independent Film Awards as the year’s most nominated title, earning 12 nods including Best British Independent Film, Best Director, and Best Debut Director. The Lagos-set drama follows a father and his two young sons during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis and will arrive in cinemas on 6 February 2026. It competes in key craft categories as well, with nominations for cinematography, editing, sound, production design, costume, make-up and hair, and original music.
Harry Lighton‘s Pillion follows with 10 nominations. The adaptation of Adam Mars-Jones’s novel Box Hill centers on the relationship between a biker and an introverted gay man, securing recognition for Best British Independent Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Lead Performance for Harry Melling. The film also appears in technical categories including editing, costume, and casting.
Kirk Jones‘ I Swear, based on the life of Scottish man John Davidson who lives with Tourette’s syndrome, takes 9 nominations. Lynne Ramsay‘s Die My Love follows with 8, including Best Director and Best Lead Performance for Jennifer Lawrence. Her film also appears in cinematography, sound, production design, effects, music supervision, and make-up and hair.
Several other films receive multiple nominations, among them Harris Dickinson’s Urchin, James Griffiths’ The Ballad of Wallis Island, and Laura Carreira’s On Falling. Carreira also receives nominations for Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Debut Screenwriter.
Distributor and streaming platform MUBI secures 24 nominations across six films, led by My Father’s Shadow and Die My Love. Its slate also includes Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Harvest, nominated for Best Production Design, and three international contenders: Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, and Mascha Schilinski’s Sound of Falling.
The awards also recognize emerging talent through categories such as Breakthrough Producer, Breakthrough Performance, and the Douglas Hickox Award for debut directors. Nominated short films, documentaries, and international titles reflect the broad range of independent filmmaking represented at this year’s ceremony.
Full List of 2025 British Independent Film Awards Nominations
Best British Independent Film
• The Ballad of Wallis Island – James Griffiths, Tom Basden, Tim Key, Rupert Majendie
• I Swear – Kirk Jones, Georgia Bayliff, Piers Tempest
• My Father’s Shadow – Akinola Davies Jr, Wale Davies, Rachel Dargavel, Funmbi Ogunbanwo
• Pillion – Harry Lighton, Lee Groombridge, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Emma Norton
• Urchin – Harris Dickinson, Archie Pearch, Scott O’Donnell
Cinema of the Year
• Depot Cinema
• The Magic Lantern Cinema
• Montrose Playhouse
• Queen’s Film Theatre
• Watershed
Best Director
• Laura Carreira – On Falling
• Akinola Davies Jr – My Father’s Shadow
• Kirk Jones – I Swear
• Harry Lighton – Pillion
• Lynne Ramsay – Die My Love
Best Screenplay
• Tom Basden, Tim Key – The Ballad of Wallis Island
• Laura Carreira – On Falling
• Wale Davies – My Father’s Shadow
• Kirk Jones – I Swear
• Harry Lighton – Pillion
Best Lead Performance
• Robert Aramayo – I Swear
• Frank Dillane – Urchin
• David Jonsson – Wasteman
• Jennifer Lawrence – Die My Love
• Harry Melling – Pillion
• Cillian Murphy – Steve
Best Supporting Performance
• Tom Blyth – Wasteman
• Scott Ellis Watson – I Swear
• Jay Lycurgo – Steve
• Peter Mullan – I Swear
• Maxine Peake – I Swear
• Alexander Skarsgard – Pillion
Best Joint Lead Performance
• Ebada Hassan, Saffiya Ingar – Brides
• Tim Key, Tom Basden – The Ballad Of Wallis Island
• Andrea Riseborough, Brenda Blethyn – Dragonfly
The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director)
• Laura Carreira – On Falling
• Akinola Davies Jr – My Father’s Shadow
• Harris Dickinson – Urchin
• Harry Lighton – Pillion
• Cal McMau – Wasteman
Breakthrough Producer
• Wyn Baptiste – Shoot the People
• Charlotte Knowles – Palestine Comedy Club
• Joann Kushner – LifeHack
• Dhiraj Mahey – Ish
• Archie Pearch – Urchin
Breakthrough Performance
• Scott Ellis Watson – I Swear
• Ebada Hassan – Brides
• Safiyya Ingar – Brides
• Posy Sterling – Lollipop
• Connor Tompkins – The Son and the Sea
Best Debut Screenwriter
• Hunter Andrews, Eoin Doran – Wasteman
• Tom Basden, Tim Key – The Ballad of Wallis Island
• Laura Carreira – On Falling
• Wale Davies – My Father’s Shadow
• Harry Lighton – Pillion
Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary
• Myrid Carten – A Want In Her
• Cecile Embleton, Alys Tomlinson – Mother Vera
• Victoria Mapplebeck – Motherboard
The Raindance Maverick Award
• Foul Evil Deeds – Richard Hunter
• Holloway – Sophie Compton, Daisy-May Hudson, Stella Heath Keir, Alice Hughes, Polly Creed
• Mother Vera – Cecile Embleton, Alys Tomlinson, Laura Shacham
• Motherboard – Victoria Mapplebeck
• A Want in Her -Myrid Carten
Best Feature Documentary
• Antidote – James Jones, David Moulton
• Mother Vera – Cecile Embleton, Alys Tomlinson, Laura Shacham
• Motherboard – Victoria Mapplebeck
• The Shepherd and the Bear – Max Keegan, Elizabeth Woodward, Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss
• A Want in Her – Myrid Carten, Tadhg O’Sullivan, Roisin Geraghty, Kat Mansoor
Best British Short Film
• Flock – Mac Nixon, Matt Ashwell, Daley Nixon
• Magid / Zafar – Luis Hindman, Sufiyaan Salam, Aidan Robert Brooks
• A Sisyphean Task – Gus Flind-Henry, George Malcher, George Telfer
• Stomach Bug – Matty Crawford, Karima Sammout Kanellopoulou
• Two Black Boys in Paradise – Ben Jackson, Baz Sells, Dean Atta
Best International Independent Film
• It Was Just an Accident – Jafar Panahi, Phillippe Martin
• Sentimental Value – Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt, Maria Ekerhovd, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar
• Sirāt – Oliver Laxe, Santiago Fillol, Domingo Corral, Oriol Maymo, Andrea Queralt, Mani Mortazavi, Xavi Font, Pedro Almodovar, Agustin Almodovar, Esther García
• Sorry, Baby – Eva Victor, Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak, Barry Jenkins
• Sound of Falling – Mascha Schilinski, Louise Pete, Maren Schmitt, Lucas Schmidt
Best Casting
• Shaheen Baig – Brides
• Shaheen Baig – Urchin
• Kharmel Cochrane – Warfare
• Lauren Evans – I Swear
• Robert Sterne – Steve
Best Cinematography
• Charlotte Bruus Christensen – H Is for Hawk
• Jermaine Edwards – My Father’s Shadow
• Cecile Embleton – Mother Vera
• Seamus McGarvey – Die My Love
• Piotr Niemyjski – A Pale View of Hills
Best Costume Design
• Susie Coulthard – 100 Nights of Hero
• Kirsty Halliday – Tornado
• Grace Snell – Pillion
• Sayaka Takahashi, Matthew Price – A Pale View of Hills
• PC Williams – My Father’s Shadow
Best Editing
• Ronan Corrigan, Aleksandr Kletsov – LifeHack
• Omar Guzman Castro – My Father’s Shadow
• Fin Oates – Warfare
• Sam Rice-Edwards – One To One: John & Yoko
• Gareth C. Scales – Pillion
Best Effects
• Simon Stanley-Clamp, Ryan Conder – Warfare
• Victor Tomi – Die My Love
• Hayley Williams, Conor O’Sullivan, Martin Malmqvist – The Thing with Feathers
Best Music Supervision
• Phil Canning – Wasteman
• Ian Neil, Raife Burchell – Die My Love
• Bridget Samuels – Urchin
Best Make-Up and Hair Design
• Kehinde Are, Feyzo Oyebisi – My Father’s Shadow
• Diandra Ferreira – Pillion
• Paul Gooch, Tristan Versluis – Warfare
• Colleen Labaff, Miho Suzuki – Die My Love
• Natasha Lawes – 100 Nights of Hero
Best Original Music
• Tom Basden, Adem Ilhan – The Ballad of Wallis Island
• Bobby Krlic – Anemone
• Jed Kurzel – Tornado
• CJ Mirra – My Father’s Shadow
• Steven Price – Ocean with David Attenborough
Best Production Design
• Jennifer Anti, Pablo Anti – My Father’s Shadow
• Mark Digby – Warfare
• Tim Grimes – Die My Love
• Nathan Parker – Harvest
• Sofia Sacomani – 100 Nights Of Hero
Best Sound
• Steve Fanagan, Stevie Haywood – Anemone
• Tim Burns, Paul Davies, Linda Forsen, Andrew Stirk, Ron Osiowy – Die My Love
• Nina Hartstone, Jake Whitelee, Jens Petersen, Mike Tehrani, Rob Davidson – Ish
• CJ Mirra, James Ridgway, Joe Jackson, Adele Fletcher, Pius Fatoke – My Father’s Shadow
• Sound Team – Warfare
Winners will be announced on 30 November at the Roundhouse in London.
