British Independent Film Awards: Debut Movies ‘Aftersun,’ ‘Blue Jean’ Lead Nominations

Aftersun and Blue Jean are leading the nominations for the 2022 British Independent Film Awards, unveiled on Friday.

Florence Pugh (The Wonder), Emma Mackey (Emily), Paul Mescal (who got nods in two categories: best joint lead performance for Aftersun and best supporting performance for God’s Creatures), Letitia Wright (The Silent Twins), Bill Nighy (Living), Emily Watson (God’s Creatures) and Emma Thompson (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande) are among the nominees in the now gender-neutral acting, or performance, categories.

Organizers highlighted that it was “a strong year for women filmmakers and performers,” adding: “Women dominate performance, writing and directing categories.”

Aftersun, Charlotte Wells’ debut feature about a father and daughter’s complex relationship, landed 16 nominations for this year’s BIFAs, including for best British independent film, best director, best debut director, best screenplay and best debut screenwriter, along with a best joint lead performance nomination for stars Mescal and Frankie Corio, who also received a breakthrough performance nomination.

Georgia Oakley’s debut film Blue Jean, about a young teacher forced to lead a double life, earned 13 nominations, including for best British independent film, best director, best debut director, best screenplay, best debut screenwriter, best lead performance and breakthrough performance for Rosy McEwen, best supporting performance nominations for Kerrie Hayes and Lucy Halliday, and a best ensemble performance nomination.

Behind those two movies, Sebastian Lelio’s The Wonder, a 19th-century thriller focusing on a young Irish girl whose fasting is hailed as miraculous, but may be something more ominous, follows with 12 BIFA nominations, while Oliver Hermanus’ Living, about a bureaucrat (played by Nighy) facing a fatal illness, received nine.

Hosts Sam Claflin and BIFA winner Kosar Ali unveiled the nominees early Friday during an event in London.

This summer, the BIFAs unveiled a move to gender-neutral performance categories this year. “Marking the Awards’ 25th year with a shake-up to traditional performance categories, BIFA will present five acting awards that celebrate and reward the outstanding acting talent on display in British independent film,” organizers said back then. “The new performance categories are best lead performance, best supporting performance, best joint lead performance — for two (or exceptionally three) performances that are the joint focus of the film — and best ensemble. BIFA’s established Breakthrough Performance award sponsored by Netflix remains unchanged and rounds out the new set of awards.” That final award has always been gender-neutral.

Last year, Aleem Khan’s directorial debut After Love, about a widowed Muslim convert who uncovers the secret life led by her late husband, was the standout performer at the BIFAs, winning six awards, including the top honor of best British independent film.

Marking the start of awards season in Britain, this year’s BIFA ceremony will be held Dec. 4 in London, with the host, juries and recipient of the Richard Harris Award for contributions to British cinema set to be unveiled soon.

Below is the full list of BIFA nominations.

Best British Independent Film
Aftersun Charlotte Wells, Barry Jenkins, Mark Ceryak, Adele Romanski, Amy Jackson
Blue Jean Georgia Oakley, Hélène Sifre
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande Sophie Hyde, Katy Brand, Debbie Gray, Adrian Politowski
Living Oliver Hermanus, Kazuo Ishiguro, Stephen Woolley, Elizabeth Karlsen
The Wonder Sebastián Lelio, Emma Donoghue, Alice Birch, Juliette Howell, Andrew Lowe, Tessa Ross, Ed Guiney

Best Director sponsored by Sky Cinema
OLIVER HERMANUS Living
SOPHIE HYDE Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
SEBASTIÁN LELIO The Wonder
GEORGIA OAKLEY Blue Jean
CHARLOTTE WELLS Aftersun

Best Screenplay
KATY BRAND Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
KAZUO ISHIGURO Living
SEBASTIÁN LELIO, ALICE BIRCH, EMMA DONOGHUE The Wonder
GEORGIA OAKLEY Blue Jean
CHARLOTTE WELLS Aftersun

Best Lead Performance
SALLY HAWKINS The Lost King
COSMO JARVIS It Is in Us All
EMMA MACKEY Emily
ROSY McEWEN Blue Jean
BILL NIGHY Living
FLORENCE PUGH The Wonder
EMILY WATSON God’s Creatures
HALA ZEIN Nezouh

Best Supporting Performance
ZOEY DEUTCH The Outfit
AISLING FRANCIOSI God’s Creatures
LUCY HALLIDAY Blue Jean
KERRIE HAYES Blue Jean
ZAINAB JODA Our River…Our Sky
FATMA MOHAMED Flux Gourmet
PAUL MESCAL God’s Creatures
FIONN WHITEHEAD Emily
AIMEE LOU WOOD Living

Best Joint Lead Performance
FRANKIE CORIO, PAUL MESCAL Aftersun
DARYL McCORMACK, EMMA THOMPSON Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
JESSIE BUCKLEY, RORY KINNEAR Men
TAMARA LAWRANCE, LETITIA WRIGHT The Silent Twins

Best Ensemble Performance
Blue Jean Ensemble including Rosy McEwen, Kerrie Hayes, Lucy Halliday, Lydia Page, Stacy Abalogun, Farrah Cave, Amy Booth-Steel
Emily Ensemble including Amelia Gething, Emma Mackey, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Fionn Whitehead, Alexandra Dowling, Gemma Jones, Adrian Dunbar
Flux Gourmet Ensemble including Makis Papadimitriou, Gwendoline Christie, Asa Butterfield, Fatma Mohamed, Ariane Labed, Richard Bremmer
Our River…Our Sky Ensemble including Zainab Joda, Darina Al Joundi, Amed Hashimi, Mahmoud Abo Al Abbas, Basim Hajar, Labwa Arab, Meriam Abbas, Siham Mustafa
The Wonder Ensemble including Kíla Lord Cassidy, Florence Pugh, Tom Burke, Toby Jones, Niamh Algar, Elaine Cassidy, Ciarán Hinds, Brían F. O’Byrne, Josie Walker

Breakthrough Performance sponsored by Netflix
FRANKIE CORIO Aftersun
LEO LONG I Used to Be Famous
KÍLA LORD CASSIDY The Wonder
ROSY McEWEN Blue Jean
SAFIA OAKLEY-GREEN The Origin

The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) sponsored by BBC Film
ANDREW CUMMING The Origin
THOMAS HARDIMAN Medusa Deluxe
FRANCES O’CONNOR Emily
GEORGIA OAKLEY Blue Jean
CHARLOTTE WELLS Aftersun

Breakthrough Producer sponsored by Pinewood and Shepperton Studios
ALEKSANDRA BILIĆ, JENNIFER CORCORAN Nascondino [Hide & Seek]
PAUL KENNEDY Nightride [also produced by Jon Silk]
RUPERT MAJENDIE Brian and Charles
NADIRA MURRAY Winners [also produced by Paul Welsh]
HÉLÈNE SIFRE Blue Jean

Best Debut Screenwriter sponsored by Film4
SHANE CROWLEY God’s Creatures
DAVID EARL, CHRIS HAYWARD Brian and Charles
RUTH GREENBERG The Origin
GEORGIA OAKLEY Blue Jean
CHARLOTTE WELLS Aftersun

Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary
KATHRYN FERGUSON Nothing Compares
VICTORIA FIORE Nascondino [Hide & Seek]
LEAH GORDON, EDDIE HUTTON MILLS Kanaval
JONO McLEOD My Old School
BECKY HUTNER Fashion Reimagined

The Raindance Discovery Award
Electric Malady Marie Lidén, Aimara Reques
Fadia’s Tree Sarah Beddington, Susan Simnett
Off the Rails Peter Day, Grant Keir, Rob Alexander
Rebellion Elena Sánchez Bellot, Maia Kenworthy, Kat Mansoor
Winners Hassan Nazer, Nadira Murray, Paul Welsh

Best Feature Documentary sponsored by Intermission
My Childhood, My Country – 20 Years in Afghanistan Phil Grabsky, Shoaib Sharifi, Amanda Wilkie
My Old School Jono McLeod, John Archer, Olivia Lichtenstein
Nascondino [Hide & Seek] Victoria Fiore, Jennifer Corcoran, Aleksandra Bilić
Nothing Compares Kathryn Ferguson, Eleanor Emptage, Michael Mallie
Young Plato Neasa Ní Chianáin, Declan McGrath, David Rane

Best British Short Film supported by BFI Network
A Fox in the Night Keeran Anwar Blessie, Benjamin Jacob Smith
Honesty Roxy Rezvany, Emily Renée, Elly Camisa
Sandstorm Seemab Gul, Abid Aziz Merchant
Scale Joseph Pierce, Hélène Mitjavile
Too Rough Sean Lìonadh, Ross McKenzie, Alfredo Covelli

Best International Independent Film sponsored by Champagne Taittinger
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin, Yoni Golijov
Close Lukas Dhont, Angelo Tijssens, Michiel Dhont, Dirk Impens
Decision to Leave Park Chan-Wook, Chung Seo-Kyung
Everything Everywhere All at Once Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang, Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Mike Larocca
The Worst Person in the World Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar, Thomas Robsahm

Best Casting sponsored by Casting Society & Spotlight
SHAHEEN BAIG Blue Jean
LEILA BERTRAND Our River…Our Sky
KHARMEL COCHRANE The Silent Twins
KAHLEEN CRAWFORD Living
LUCY PARDEE Aftersun

Best Cinematography sponsored by Dirty Looks & Kodak
ALFREDO DE JUAN Nascondino [Hide & Seek]
ROB HARDY Men
JOEL HONEYWELL Kanaval
GREGORY OKE Aftersun
ARI WEGNER The Wonder

Best Costume Design
JENNY BEAVAN Mrs Harris Goes to Paris
SAFFRON CULLANE Flux Gourmet
ODILE DICKS-MIREAUX The Wonder
FRANK GALLACHER Aftersun
SANDY POWELL Living

Best Editing
JOANNA CRICKMAY Elizabeth: A Portrait in Parts
IZABELLA CURRY Blue Jean
MÁTYÁS FEKETE Flux Gourmet
MICK MAHON Nothing Compares
BLAIR McCLENDON Aftersun

Best Original Music sponsored by Universal Music Publishing
DANNY BENSI, SAUNDER JURRIAANS God’s Creatures
OLIVER COATES Aftersun
MATTHEW HERBERT The Wonder
ADAM JANOTA BZOWSKI The Origin
BEN SALISBURY, GEOFF BARROW Men

Best Makeup & Hair Design
OYA AYGÖR, MURAT ÇAĞIN Aftersun
MORNA FERGUSON, LORRI ANN KING The Wonder
SIOBHAN HARPER-RYAN Flux Gourmet
NIAMH MORRISON The Origin
EUGENE SOULEIMAN, SCARLETT O’CONNELL Medusa Deluxe

Best Effects
CHRIS MARSHALL The Feast
DAVID SIMPSON Men
AHMED YOUSRY Nezouh

Best Music Supervision
LUCY BRIGHT Aftersun
PHIL CANNING The Phantom of the Open
RUPERT HOLLIER Living

Best Sound supported by Halo
TIM HARRISON, RAOUL BRAND, CASSANDRA RUTLEDGE Flux Gourmet
GLENN FREEMANTLE, BEN BARKER, GILLIAN DODDERS, HOWARD BARGOFF, MITCH LOW Men
JOVAN AJDER Aftersun
HUGH FOX, BEN BAIRD The Wonder
DOM CORBISIERO, DAI SHELL The Feast

Best Production Design
FLETCHER JARVIS Flux Gourmet
GRANT MONTGOMERY The Wonder
HELEN SCOTT Living
BILLUR TURAN Aftersun
GARY WILLIAMSON Medusa Deluxe