Akinola Davies Jr.’s feature debut, My Father’s Shadow, has emerged as the winner of the upcoming 2025 British Independent Film Awards.
The Cannes head-turner, starring Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù and set against the backdrop of Nigeria’s 1993 political arrests, leads the pack of titles at this year’s BIFA ceremony with 12 nominations, including Best British Independent Film and Best Director.
With new talent emerging across the nominees, In the Father’s Shadow is followed by Harry Righton’s directorial debut Pillion (an Element Pictures-backed film that premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard competition). This kinky queer romance starring Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling was nominated for 10 awards, including Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, as well as Best Lead and Supporting Actors. Wroten was nominated in 2017 for his short story “Wren Boy.”
Kirk Jones’ moving film I Swear, about Tourette’s activist John Davison, has followed suit and is already a hit in UK cinemas. The film was nominated for nine awards, including four for Best Director and Best Acting. Further down, Lynne Ramsey’s Die My Love, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, has eight films (including Lawrence’s first BIFA certification), followed by Alex Garland’s Warfare with seven films. BIFA also announced that “Warfare” was the winner of the Ensemble Performance Award.
Meanwhile, Harris Dickinson was nominated for six awards for his directorial debut Urchin (also the premiere of Un Certain Regard), including the British Independent Film Award and Best Actor for Frank Dillane. Other nominees included Cillian Murphy (Steve), Andrea Riseborough (Dragonfly), David Johnson (The Wasteman), Peter Mullan (I Swear) and Brenda Blethyn (Dragonfly).
The 2025 BIFA ceremony will be held on November 30th at the Roundhouse in London.
See the full list of nominations below.
British Independent Film Awards
“The Ballad of Wallis Island”
“i swear”
“Father’s Shadow”
“Pillion”
“Sea urchin”
best lead performance
Robert Aramayo “I swear”
Frank Dillane “Uni”
David Johnson “The Wasteman”
Jennifer Lawrence “Die My Love”
Harry Melling “Pillion”
Cillian Murphy “Steve”
best support performance
Tom Bryce “The Wasteman”
Scott Ellis Watson “I swear”
Jay Ricargo “Steve”
Peter Mullan “I swear”
Maxine Peake “I Swear”
Alexander Skarsgård “Pillion”
Best joint lead performance
Ebada Hassan, Safiyah Ingar “The Bride”
Tim Key, Tom Basden “The Ballad of Wallis Island”
Andrea Riseborough, Brenda Blethyn “Dragonfly”
Best Director Award
Laura Carreira “On Falling”
Akinola Davis Jr. “Father’s Shadow”
Kirk Jones “I Swear”
Harry Righton “Pillion”
Lynne Ramsay “Die My Love”
Best Screenplay Award
Tom Basden, Tim Key “The Ballad of Wallis Island”
Laura Carreira “On Falling”
Wale Davis “Father’s Shadow”
Kirk Jones “I Swear”
Harry Righton “Pillion”
Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director
Laura Carreira “On Falling”
Akinola Davis Jr. “Father’s Shadow”
Harris Dickinson “Surchin”
Harry Righton “Pillion”
Cal McMaw “The Wasteman”
groundbreaking producer
Wynn Baptiste “Shoot the People”
Charlotte Knowles “Palestinian Comedy Club”
Joan Kushner “Life Hack” (also produced by Timur Bekmambetov and Alexander Kretsov)
Dheeraj Mahay “Ish” (also produced by Bennett McGee)
Archie Partch “Urchin” (also produced by Scott O’Donnell)
breakthrough performance
Scott Ellis Watson “I swear”
Ebada Hassan “Bride”
Safiyah Inger “Bride”
Posey Starling “Lollipop”
Connor Tompkins “The Son and the Sea”
Best debut screenwriter
Hunter Andrews, Eoin Dolan “The Wasteman”
Tom Basden, Tim Key “The Ballad of Wallis Island”
Laura Carreira “On Falling”
Wale Davis “Father’s Shadow”
Harry Righton “Pillion”
Best feature documentary award
“The Antidote” — James Jones, David Moulton
“Mother Bella” — Cecil Embleton, Alice Tomlinson, Laura Shacham
“Motherboard” — Victoria Mapplebeck
“The Shepherd and the Bear” — Max Keegan, Elizabeth Woodward, Amanda McBain, Jesse Moss
“A Want in Her” — Myrid Curtain, Tadhg O’Sullivan, Roisin Geraghty, Kat Mansour
Best Debut Director Award – Feature Documentary
Milid Curtain “A Want in Her”
Cecil Embleton, Alice Tomlinson “Mother Vera”
Victoria Mapplebeck “Motherboard”
Raindance Maverick Award
“Vile Deeds” Richard Hunter
Holloway Sophie Compton, Daisy-Mae Hudson, Stella Heath Keir, Alice Hughes, Polly Creed
“Mother Bella” Cecil Embleton, Alice Tomlinson, Laura Shacham
“Motherboard” Victoria Mapplebeck
“The Desire in Her” Milid Curtain
Best International Independent Film
“It was just an accident.”
“Emotional value”
“Silaat”
“Sorry, baby.”
“Falling sound”
best casting
Shaheen Baig “Bride”
Shaheen Baig “Uni”
Carmel Cochran “War”
Lauren Evans “I Promise”
Robert Stern “Steve”
Best Cinematography Award
Charlotte Bruce Christensen “H is for Hawk”
Jermaine Edwards “Father’s Shadow”
Cecil Embleton “Mother Vera”
Seamus McGarvey “Die My Love”
Piotr Niemiski “Pale View of the Hills”
Best Costume Design Award
Susie Coulthard “100 Nights of Heroism”
Kirsty Halliday “Tornado”
Grace Snell “Pillion”
Sayaka Takahashi, Matthew Price “A Pale View of Hills”
PC Williams “Father’s Shadow”
Best editing award
Ronan Corrigan, Alexander Kretsov, “Life Hack”
Omar Guzmán Castro “Shadow of the Father”
Finn Oates “Warfare”
Sam Rice-Edwards “One to One: John and Yoko”
Gareth C. Scales “Pillion”
best effects
Simon Stanley-Crump, Ryan Condor “Warfare”
Victor Tomi “Die My Love”
Hayley Williams, Conor O’Sullivan, Martin Malmqvist “The Thing with Feathers”
Best music supervision
Phil Canning “The Wasteman”
Ian Neil, Rafe Burchell “Die My Love”
Bridget Samuels “Urchin”
Best Makeup & Hair Design Award
Kehinde Ale, Faizo Oyebishi “Father’s Shadow”
Diandra Ferreira “Pillion”
Paul Gooch, Tristan Versluis “War”
Colleen LaBuff, Miho Suzuki “Die My Love”
Natasha Rose “100 Nights of a Hero”
Best Original Music Award
Tom Basden, Adem Ilhan “The Ballad of Wallis Island”
Bobby Krulik “Anemone”
Jed Kurzel “Tornado”
CJ Milla, Duvall Timothy “Father’s Shadow”
Stephen Price “Ocean with David Attenborough”
Best Production Design Award
Jennifer Antti, Pablo Antti “Father’s Shadow”
Mark Digby “Warfare”
Tim Grimes “Die My Love”
Nathan Parker “Harvest”
Sofia Sacomani “One Hundred Nights of Heroes”
best sound
Steve Fanagan, Stevie Haywood “Anemone”
Tim Burns, Paul Davis, Linda Forsen, Andrew Stark, Ron Oshiowy “Die My Love”
Nina Hartstone, Jake Whiteley, Jens Petersen, Mike Tehrani, Rob Davidson, “Ish”
CJ Milla, James Ridgway, Joe Jackson, Adele Fletcher, Pius Fatke “My Father’s Shadow”
Sound Team “Warfare”
Best British Short Film Award
“The Flock” — Mac Nixon, Matt Ashwell, Daily Nixon
“Majid/Zafar” — Louis Hindman, Sufiyaan Salam, Aidan Robert Brooks
“A Sisyphean Task” — Gus Frind-Henry, George Mulcher, George Telfer
“Stomach Bug” — Matty Crawford, Karima Samot Canelopoulou
“Two Black Boys in Paradise” — Ben Jackson, Buzz Sells, Dean Atta
Cinema of the Year
depot cinema
magic lantern cinema
montrose playhouse
Queen’s Film Theater
basin
