By Yetunde Adeyeri
The British Independent Film Awards — better known as the BIFAs — have unveiled the 2019 nomination longlists for the four emerging talent categories: breakthrough producer, debut screenwriter, most promising newcomer, and debut director.
Like last year, the longlists, which will be shaved down to five names in each category when the official nominations are unveiled Oct. 30, show a strong female presence, particularly among the breakthrough producers, and include a sprinkling of recognizable names.
Perhaps most notable is Oscar-nominated 42-year-old British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, who went behind the camera for his Sundance-bowing directorial debut The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, as did The Inbetweeners star Simon Bird for Days of the Bagnold Summer. Elsewhere, Nicole Taylor, already an award-winning writer for TV writer, is acknowledged for her debut film Wild Rose (one of the year’s most critically acclaimed films), while Michael Ward, recently seen as one of the leads in the Drake/Netflix revival of Brit gangland series Top Boy, makes an appearance for his turn in Rapman’s Blue Story.
The 2019 BIFA ceremony — the awards’ 22nd edition — will take place Dec.r 1 at London’s Old Billingsgate.
Here are the breakthrough nomination longlists.
Breakthrough Producer
Becky Read – Three Identical Strangers (also produced by Grace Hughes-Hallett)
Dan Cleland – Are You Proud?
Emma Duffy – Mari
Finn Bruce – Tucked
Jack Sidey – Moffie (also produced by Eric Abraham)
Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor – Blue Story (also produced by Damian Jones)
Kate Byers, Linn Waite – Bait
Louise Gallagher – A Bump Along the Way
Olivia Lichtenstein – Teddy Pendergrass: If You Don’t Know Me (also produced by Ian Flooks, Piers Tempest)
Poppy Roe, Staten Cousins Roe – A Serial Killer’s Guide to Life (also produced by Giles Alderson, Charity Wakefield)
Tom Nash – Gwen (also produced by Hilary Bevan Jones)
Tomos Roberts, Nassim Mniai – Hilda
Zara Balfour – Children of the Snow Land (also produced by Marcus Stephenson)
The Douglas Hickox Award (Debut Director)
Chiwetel Ejiofor – The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Dolly Wells – Good Posture
Fyzal Boulifa – Lynn + Lucy
Harry Wootliff – Only You
Ninian Doff – Boyz In The Wood
Rapman – Blue Story
Rishi Pelham – Hilda
Shelly Love – A Bump Along the Way
Simon Bird – Days of the Bagnold Summer
Tom Cullen – Pink Wall
Will Becher, Richard Phelan – A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
William Mcgregor – Gwen
Debut Screenwriter
Chiwetel Ejiofor – The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
Dolly Wells – Good Posture
Emma Jane – Unsworth Animals
Fyzal Boulifa – Lynn + Lucy
Harry Wootliff – Only You
Helen Kingston – The Flood
Kieran Hurley – Beats
Lisa Owens – Days of the Bagnold Summer
Nicole Taylor – Wild Rose
Owen Mccafferty – Ordinary Love
Susanne Farrell – Dirty God
Tess Mcgowan – A Bump Along the Way
Tom Edge – Judy
Most Promising Newcomer
Damson Idris – Farming
Earl Cave – Days of the Bagnold Summer
Edward Rowe – Bait
Eleanor Worthington-Cox – Gwen
Gregor Selkirk – Tell It to the Bees
Honor Swinton Byrne – The Souvenir
Katie Proctor – Sorry We Missed You
Lola Petticrew – A Bump Along the Way
Lorn Macdonald – Beats
Megan Purvis – Hilda
Micheal Ward – Blue Story
Roxanne Scrimshaw – Lynn + Lucy
Sam Adewunmi – The Last Tree
Stephen Odubola – Blue Story
Tai Golding – The Last Tree
Vicky Knight – Dirty God
