The 2021 British Independent Film Award (BIFA) nominations have been announced, with Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir Part II,” Prano Bailey-Bond’s “Censor,” and Clio Barnard’s “Ali & Ava” among the most-recognized contenders. Both “The Souvenir Part II” and “Censor” scored nine nominations apiece, while “Ali & Ava” received seven.
A film memoir of Hogg’s experiences as a young filmmaker, and a follow-up to 2019’s critically acclaimed “The Souvenir,” “The Souvenir Part II” is up for the top prize, Best British Independent Film. Hogg is nominated for Best Director and Best Screenplay, and co-star Tilda Swinton is up for Best Supporting Actress.
A drama that sees two lonely people connecting over the course of a month, “Ali & Ava” is also nominated for Best British Independent Film. Overall, women helmed two of the five films in that category. It’s the same story, and gender ratio, for Best Director and Best Screenplay: Hogg and Barnard are the only women recognized in those sections.
“Censor,” a horror film pic about a film censor who uses a video nasty to find out what happened to her missing sister, snagged nominations for The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director and Best Debut Screenwriter (both Bailey-Bond) and Breakthrough Producer (Helen Jones).
Counting Bailey-Bond, women represent four of the five Best Debut Director noms. The other nominees are Celeste Bell for music doc “Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché”; Cathy Brady for “Wildfire,” the tale of two sisters’ reunion, and all the resentments that resurface as a result; and Marley Morrison for “Sweetheart,” a comedy that sees an awkward teen being drawn to a lifeguard while on vacation.
“Sweetheart” also received nominations for Best Debut Screenwriter (Morrison), Breakthrough Performance (Nell Barlow), Best Supporting Actress (Jo Hartley), and Breakthrough Producer (Michelle Antoniades).
Meanwhile, Brady is also up for Best Debut Screenwriter for “Wildfire,” meaning that women make up three of that section’s five nominees.
The nominees for Best Actress are Claire Rushbrook (“Ali & Ava”), Caitríona Balfe (“Belfast”), Carrie Coon (“The Nest”), Joanna Scanlan (“After Love”), and Ruth Wilson (“True Things”). Joining Swinton and Hartley in the Best Supporting Actress race are Judi Dench (“Belfast”), Nathalie Richard (“After Love”), and Vinette Robinson (“Boiling Point”). Robinson is the sole actress of color nominated in either of these categories.
Three of the five nominations for Breakthrough Performance went to young women. Lauryn Ajufo (“Boiling Point”) and Ellora Torchia (“In The Earth”) will compete in this section, alongside Barlow.
All five of the films up for Best Documentary are directed or co-directed by women. They are “Cow,” Andrea Arnold’s portrait of a cow’s everyday life; Chloë Fairweather’s “Dying To Divorce,” the story of a Turkish lawyer fighting to put abusive men behind bars; Posy Dixon’s look at trans musical artist Beverly Glenn-Copeland, “Keyboard Fantasies”; Sue Carpenter and Belmaya Nepali’s “I Am Belmaya,” which sees a Dalit woman in Nepal telling her own story; and “Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché,” from Bell and Paul Sng.
“Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché” and “I Am Belmaya” also received Discovery Award nominations, as did Harri Shanahan and Siân A. Williams’ recounting of the union of feminism and punk in the ’80s, “Rebel Dykes,” and Hilary Powell and Daniel Edelstyn’s look at grassroots economic justice activism, “Bank Job.”
Three of the five Best International Independent Film nominees are from women directors. Kelly Reichardt’s 19th century-set tale of friendship and entrepreneurship, “First Cow,” will compete alongside Céline Sciamma’s magical realist take on motherhood, “Petite Maman,” and Ninja Thyberg’s exploration of the porn industry, “Pleasure.”
Check out all the BIFA nominations over at Screen Daily. Craft award winners will be announced November 19, and the other categories will be presented at an in-person ceremony on December 5.
