American Honey, Notes On Blindness, Adult Life Skills, Under The Shadow also score multiple noms.

I Daniel Blake

Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake leads this year’s British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) nominations, which were announced this morning by British actors Ophelia Lovibond and Douglas Booth in London.

Loach’s timely social drama - which won Cannes’ Palme d’Or earlier this year - was nominated in seven categories including Best British Independent Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay.

Co-stars Hayley Squires and Dave Johns are each nominated twice – for Best Actress and Best Actor and will also go head to head in the Most Promising Newcomer category.

The other nominees in the Best British Independent Film category are American Honey (six nominations), Couple in a Hole (two nominations), Notes on Blindness (six nominations) and the Under The Shadow (six nominations).

Other titles with receiving multiple nominations but in other categories included Adult Life Skills (six nominations) and zombie thriller The Girl With All The Gifts (four nominations).

BIFA organisers noted that 2016 was a particularly strong year for new talent in the acting categories.

Aside from I, Daniel Blake co-stars Squires and Johns, other newcomers receiving a nomination for the first time included Narges Rashidi (Under The Shadow) and Sasha Lane (American Honey). Jodie Whitaker (Adult Life Skills) and Kate Dickie (Couple In A Hole) have been nominated for Best Actress for the second time.

By contrast, nomination front-runners Loach and American Honey director Andrea Arnold, are nominated in the Best Director category for the fifth and fourth time respectively.

Loach previously one in Best Director category for My Name is Joe in 1998 and also picked up a Special Jury Prize for Wind That Shakes The Barley. Arnold previously won the Best Director BIFA for her 2009 film Fish Tank.

This year’s Best International Independent Film category meanwhile features an eclectic group of nominees, comprising, Hunt For The Wilderpeople, Manchester By The Sea, Moonlight, Mustang and Toni Erdmann.

More than 130 British films were submitted for consideration and 32 different British feature films have been nominated across the awards.

As previously announced actress Naomie Harris will receive The Variety Award recognising a British director, actor, writer, or producer who has helped put the spotlight on the UK film industry.

She is also a nominee this year in Best Supporting Actress category for her performance in Our Kind of Traitor.

Past recipients of The Variety Award include Kate Winslet, Benedict Cumberbatch and Paul Greengrass.

The winners will be announced at the BIFA ceremony on Dec 4 at Old Billingsgate.

The BIFAs were founded by Elliot Grove and Suzanne Ballantyne in 1998 to reward the best innovative and creative film-making and film-makers in the UK.

Best British Independent Film

  • AMERICAN HONEY Andrea Arnold, Lars Knudsen, Jay Van Hoy, Pouya Shahbazian, Alice Weinberg, Thomas Benski, Lucas Ochoa
  • COUPLE IN A HOLE Tom Geens, Zorana Piggott
  • I, DANIEL BLAKE Ken Loach, Paul Laverty, Rebecca O’Brien
  • NOTES ON BLINDNESS Peter Middleton, James Spinney, Mike Brett, Jo-Jo Ellison, Steve Jamison, Alex Usborne
  • UNDER THE SHADOW Babak Anvari, Emily Leo, Oliver Roskill, Lucan Toh

Best Director

  • ANDREA ARNOLD American Honey
  • BABAK ANVARI Under the Shadow
  • BEN WHEATLEY Free Fire
  • KEN LOACH I, Daniel Blake
  • PETER MIDDLETON, JAMES SPINNEY, Notes on Blindness

Best Actress

  • HAYLEY SQUIRES I, Daniel Blake
  • JODIE WHITTAKER Adult Life Skills
  • KATE DICKIE Couple in a Hole
  • NARGES RASHIDI Under the Shadow
  • SASHA LANE American Honey

Best Actor

  • DAVE JOHNS I, Daniel Blake
  • MAX RECORDS I Am Not a Serial Killer
  • MICHAEL FASSBENDER Trespass Against Us
  • SHIA LABEOUF American Honey
  • STEVE BRANDON My Feral Heart

Best Screenplay

  • ANDREA ARNOLD American Honey
  • BABAK ANVARI Under the Shadow
  • BILLY O’BRIEN, CHRISTOPHER HYDE I Am Not a Serial Killer
  • PAUL LAVERTY I, Daniel Blake
  • RACHEL TUNNARD Adult Life Skills

Best International Independent Film

  • HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE Taika Waititi, Carthew Neal, Matt Noonan, Leanne Saunders
  • MANCHESTER BY THE SEA Kenneth Lonergan, Kimberly Steward, Matt Damon, Chris Moore, Lauren Beck, Kevin J. Walsh
  • MOONLIGHT Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner
  • MUSTANG Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Alice Winocour, Charles Gillibert
  • TONI ERDMANN Maren Ade, Janine Jackowski, Jonas Dornbach, Michel Merkt

Best Supporting Actress

  • AVIN MANSHADI Under the Shadow
  • GEMMA ARTERTON The Girl With All the Gifts
  • NAOMIE HARRIS Our Kind of Traitor
  • SHANA SWASH My Feral Heart
  • TERRY PHETO A United Kingdom

Best Supporting Actor

  • ARINZÉ KENE The Pass
  • BRETT GOLDSTEIN Adult Life Skills
  • CHRISTOPHER LLOYD I Am Not a Serial Killer
  • JAMIE DORNAN Anthropoid
  • SEAN HARRIS Trespass Against Us

Best Documentary

  • THE CONFESSION: LIVING THE WAR ON TERROR Ashish Ghadiali, James Rogan
  • DANCER Steven Cantor, Gabrielle Tana
  • THE HARD STOP George Amponsah, Dionne Walker
  • NOTES ON BLINDNESS Peter Middleton, James Spinney, Mike Brett, Jo-Jo Ellison, Steve Jamison, Alex Usborne
  • VERSUS: THE LIFE AND FILMS OF KEN LOACH Louise Osmond, Rebecca O’Brien

Outstanding Achievement in Craft

  • JOAKIM SUNDSTRÖM Sound – Notes on Blindness
  • PAUL MONAGHAN, MAT WHITECROSS Editing – Supersonic
  • ROBBIE RYAN Cinematography – American Honey
  • SEB BARKER Visual Effects – The Girl With All the Gifts
  • SHAHEEN BAIG Casting – Free Fire

The Douglas Hickox Award (Debut Director)

  • ADAM SMITH Trespass Against Us
  • ALICE LOWE Prevenge
  • BABAK ANVARI Under the Shadow
  • PETER MIDDLETON, JAMES SPINNEY Notes on Blindness
  • RACHEL TUNNARD Adult Life Skills

Debut Screenwriter – new for 2016

  • ED TALFAN The Passing (Yr Ymadawiad)
  • HOPE DICKSON LEACH The Levelling
  • JOHN CAIRNS, MICHAEL McCARTNEY A Patch of Fog
  • RACHEL TUNNARD Adult Life Skills
  • SIMON FARNABY, JULIAN BARRATT Mindhorn

Breakthrough Producer – new for 2016

  • CAMILLE GATIN The Girl With All the Gifts
  • DIONNE WALKER The Hard Stop
  • MICHAEL BERLINER Adult Life Skills
  • MIKE BRETT, JO-JO ELLISON, STEVE JAMISON Notes on Blindness
  • PAUL FEGAN Where You’re Meant to Be

Most Promising Newcomer

  • DAVE JOHNS I, Daniel Blake
  • HAYLEY SQUIRES I, Daniel Blake
  • LETITIA WRIGHT Urban Hymn
  • SENNIA NANUA The Girl With All the Gifts
  • STEVE BRANDON My Feral Heart

The Discovery Award

  • BLACK MOUNTAIN POETS Jamie Adams, Jon Rennie
  • THE DARKEST UNIVERSE Tom Kingsley, Will Sharpe, Tiani Ghosh, Jo-Jo Ellison
  • THE GHOUL Gareth Tunley, Jack Healy Guttmann, Tom Meeten
  • GOZO Miranda Bowen, Leo Scott
  • THE GREASY STRANGLER Jim Hosking, Toby Harvard, Daniel Noah, Andrew Starke, Ant Timpson, Josh C Waller, Elijah Wood

Best British Short

  • JACKED Rene Pannevis, Ashish Ghadiali, Jennifer Eriksson
  • MOTHER Leo Leigh, Scott O’Donnell
  • OVER Jörn Threlfall, Jeremy Bannister
  • RATE ME Fyzal Boulifa, Taina Galis
  • THE WRONG END OF THE STICK Terri Matthews, Chris Cornwell, Sam Bank

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