Filmmakers Sarah Brocklehurst, Tom Harper, Peter Mackie Burns, actors Samuel Adewunmi, RuhtxjiaÏh Bèllènéa and presenters Reggie Yates and Yinka Bokinni will serve on the 23rd British Independent Film Awards juries, whose full line-ups were unveiled today.
Under the direction of producer Sarah Brocklehurst, whose film Animals was BIFA-nominated in 2018, the Main Jury this year is comprised of a wealth of talent from both in front of and behind the camera including: 2019 BIFA Most Promising Newcomer winner Samuel Adewunmi; award-winning director Peter Mackie Burns; scriptwriter and actor Mark O’Halloran; BIFA nominee and 2020 Screen Star of Tomorrow, producer Joy Gharoro Akpojotor; 2019 BIFA Debut Director winner Harry Wootliff (Only You); writer/director Reggie Yates; Anthony Andrews, founder of the award-winning exhibitor We Are Parable; and TV and radio broadcaster, Yinka Bokinni.
Chairing the New Talent Jury, whose role is to determine the winners of the Debut Director, Best Debut Screenwriter, Breakthrough Producer and Most Promising Newcomer categories, is film critic Amon Warmann, who will lead a group of industry pioneers including: director Tom Harper, whose film Wild Rose was nominated for multiple BIFAs in 2019 including Best British Independent Film; 2019 Best Supporting Actress BIFA winner RuhtxjiaÏh Bèllènéa (The Last Tree); 2019 BIFA Debut Screenwriter winner Emma Jane Unsworth (Animals); acclaimed Zambian-Welsh director and screenwriter Rungano Nyoni who won two BIFAs for I Am Not a Witch; BIFA-nominated director of Lynn + Lucy Fyzal Boulifa; Bait director Mark Jenkin; producers Emily Precious and Lizzie Brown, who co-produced Carmilla; and Lindsey Dryden, Emmy-winning filmmaker and founder of Little by Little Films.
The two juries have a strong line up to critique with 27 outstanding British titles nominated across the various categories including Saint Maud, with 17 nominations, His House, with 16 nominations, and the acclaimed Rocks, with 15 nominations overall.
Winners will be announced in early February. More details of the event will be released in January.
