20 FICTION AND 15 DOCUMENTARY FEATURES LONGLISTED
36 DIRECTORS LONGLISTED IN DEBUT FICTION AND DOCUMENTARY CATEGORIES
DANIEL KALUUYA, MOLLY MANNING-WALKER, NIDA MANZOOR, CHARLOTTE REGAN MAKE NEW TALENT LONGLISTS
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35 features have made it onto the British Independent Film Awards’ (BIFA) prestigious Filmmaker New Talent Longlists, with 20 fiction and 15 documentary features included in the four debut filmmaking categories. From a record number of British film entries, 19 first-time fiction feature directors, 17 first-time feature documentary directors, 17 first-time writers and 24 breakthrough producers have been recognised by BIFA voters this year for their outstanding achievements.
BIFA will announce the 2023 Breakthrough Performance sponsored by Netflix longlist, which highlights extraordinary British acting talent in their first significant role in a British feature film, on Tuesday 24th October.
BIFA Springboard, an annual programme supporting second-time feature filmmakers will launch in early 2024. In direct response to the lack of support for filmmakers at this pivotal point in their career, Springboard offers labs, mentoring, networking and access to industry experts, paving a pathway for talent to progress further and build more robust and sustainable careers. Springboard has supported over 160 filmmakers over the past 3 years, including 105 who have been recognised on the BIFA new talent longlists.
The final five nominations in each category will be announced Thursday 2 November. Winners will be revealed at the 26th BIFA ceremony on Sunday 3 December.
For details of how to watch the longlisted films, visit watch.bifa.film.
The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) sponsored by BBC Film
PRASANNA PUWANARAJAH Ballywalter
SAVANAH LEAF Earth Mama
MAHALIA BELO The End We Start From
SAM H FREEMAN, NG CHOON PING Femme
ADURA ONASHILE Girl
MOLLY MANNING WALKER How To Have Sex
NAQQASH KHALID In Camera
NEIL BOYLE, KIRK HENDRY Kensuke’s Kingdom
KIBWE TAVARES, DANIEL KALUUYA The Kitchen
NIDA MANZOOR Polite Society
DIONNE EDWARDS Pretty Red Dress
PARIS ZARCILLA Raging Grace
RAINE ALLEN-MILLER Rye Lane
CHARLOTTE REGAN Scrapper
MOIN HUSSAIN Sky Peals
FARAH NABULSI The Teacher
Best Debut Screenwriter sponsored by Film4
SAVANAH LEAF Earth Mama
SAM H FREEMAN, NG CHOON PING Femme
ADURA ONASHILE Girl
MOLLY MANNING WALKER How To Have Sex
NAQQASH KHALID In Camera
DANIEL KALUUYA The Kitchen (also written by Joe Murtagh)
ALEX MACKEITH The Lesson
ANGELI MACFARLANE LOLA (also written by Andrew Legge)
NIDA MANZOOR Polite Society
DIONNE EDWARDS Pretty Red Dress
PARIS ZARCILLA Raging Grace
NATHAN BRYON, TOM MELIA Rye Lane
CHARLOTTE REGAN Scrapper
MOIN HUSSAIN Sky Peals
FARAH NABULSI The Teacher
Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary
OSCAR HARDING A Life on the Farm
CHRISTOPHER MORRIS A Year In a Field
SOPHIE COMPTON, REUBEN HAMLYN Another Body
CHRISTOPHER SHARP Bobi Wine: The People’s President (also directed by Moses Bwayo)
FRANKY MURRAY BROWN Dalton’s Dream (also directed by Kim Longinotto)
RICH FELGATE Finite: The Climate of Change
ALICE RUSSELL If the Streets Were on Fire
ELLA GLENDINING Is There Anybody Out There?
EVA WEBER Merkel
PETER BEARD, BRUCE FLETCHER Otto Baxter: Not a F***ing Horror Story
KATE STONEHILL Phantom Parrot
KIT VINCENT Red Herring
JANE GILES, ALI CATTERALL Scala!!! Or, the incredibly strange rise and fall of the world’s wildest cinema and how it influenced a mixed-up generation of weirdos and misfits
CHLOE ABRAHAMS The Taste Of Mango
Breakthrough Producer sponsored by Pinewood & Shepperton Studios
SOPHIE COMPTON, REUBEN HAMLYN Another Body (also produced by Elizabeth Woodward)
LORINE PLAGNOL Dalton’s Dream (also produced by Kim Longinotto)
MEDB RIORDAN, SHIRLEY O’CONNOR, SAVANAH LEAF Earth Mama (also produced by Cody Ryder and Sam Bisbee)
SAM RITZENBERG, MYLES PAYNE Femme
GANNESH RAJAH If the Streets Were on Fire
JULIETTE LARTHE In Camera (also produced by Mary Burke)
FLEUR NIEDDU, EDWARD LOVELACE, SAM ARNOLD, BEYAN TAHER, NEIL ANDREWS Name Me Lawand (also produced by Marisa Clifford)
GEORGIA GOGGIN Pretty Red Dress
CHI THAI Raging Grace
YVONNE ISIMEME IBAZEBO Rye Lane (also produced by Damian Jones)
THEO BARROWCLOUGH Scrapper
ADAM DEACON, JAZZIE ZONZOLO Sumotherhood (also produced by Finn Bruce)
FARAH NABULSI, SAWSAN ASFARI The Teacher (also produced by Ossama Bawadi)
JULIET DOWLING The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (also produced by Marilyn Milgrom and Kevin Loader)
Notes
Breakthrough Producer is for a British producer for their first or second documentary or fiction feature film. Where a producer wishes to be considered for the award for their second feature film, BIFA’s subgroup and Nomination Committee will assess whether the producer’s first film could be considered their industry breakthrough.
BIFA Voting Process
BIFA has over 1500 registered voters (working film industry professionals), of whom over 500 will take part in Nominations Voting in 2023. Subgroups are formed to watch, discuss and vote on groups of categories, with rigorously applied processes to ensure that every film is watched and discussed. Round One voting produces Long Lists (which are published for the new talent categories, plus Short, International, Discovery and Feature Documentary). A further round of voting produces the nominations.
In Rounds One and Two, voters must see a minimum proportion of listed films in order to vote and each film must be seen by a minimum number of voters. Votes are calculated taking into account the number of voters who have seen a film. Viewing and voting is supplemented with subgroup meetings in which every entered film is discussed.
The Filmmaker Jury decides the winners of the Director, Debut Director, Debut Director – Feature Documentary, Screenplay, Debut Screenwriter and Breakthrough Producer categories. The Performance Jury decides the winners of all performance awards. The juries also select the recipient of the Special Jury Prize (given to an unsung hero of British independent film). BIFA’s Nomination Committee selects the recipient of The Richard Harris Award. All other winners are decided by a vote amongst all registered BIFA voters (who must see all nominees before voting). All voters and jurors must complete unconscious bias training before voting.
