The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) announced the nominations for its fifth annual awards on Wednesday.

Over 100 films were viewed by the pre-selection committee, with the front-runners emerging as Morvern Callar with seven nominations, Bloody Sunday (five nominations) and The Lawless Heart (five nominations). All three were nominated in the Best British Independent Film category, as were Bend It Like Beckham and Sweet Sixteen.

BIFA head Elliot Grove said one of the "most exciting categories" in this year's nominations was the best newcomer selection. Martin Compston has been nominated for Sweet Sixteen, Kathleen McDermott for Morvern Callar, Parminder K Nagra for Bend It Like Beckham and William Ruane for Sweet Sixteen.

"The pre-selection committee were overwhelmed by the high standard of new talent that has emerged in the past year. This is certainly one of the richest years in terms of new acting talent coming through," said Grove.

Four films have been shortlisted for the best foreign language film category: Monsoon Wedding, Nine Queens, Talk To Her and Y Tu Mama Tambien.

The BIFAs will hand out a total of 14 awards, two of which are for foreign films split into Foreign language and English language categories.

The awards will take place on the evening of Wednesday 30th October 2002 at Pacha, London.


BIFA Nominations, 2002

Best British Independent Film
Bend It Like Beckham
Bloody Sunday
The Lawless Heart
Morvern Callar
Sweet Sixteen

Best Actor
Richard Harris (My Kingdom)
James Nesbitt (Bloody Sunday)
Bill Nighy (The Lawless Heart)
Timothy Spall (All or Nothing)

Best Actress
Elaine Cassidy (Disco Pigs)
Shirley Henderson (Villa des Roses)
Samantha Morton (Morvern Callar)
Harriet Walter (Villa des Roses)

Most Promising Newcomer
Martin Compston (Sweet Sixteen)
Kathleen McDermott (Morvern Callar)
Parminder K Nagra (Bend It Like Beckham)
William Ruane (Sweet Sixteen)

Best Director
Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday)
Tom Hunsinger & Neil Hunter (The Lawless Heart)
Lynne Ramsay (Morvern Callar)
Ken Loach (Sweet Sixteen)

Best Screenplay
Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday)
Tom Hunsinger & Neil Hunter (The Lawless Heart)
Lynne Ramsay & Liana Dognini (Morvern Callar)
Paul Laverty (Sweet Sixteen)

Best Achievement in Production
Morvern Callar
24 Hours Party People
Revengers Tragedy
Villa des Roses

Best Technical Achievement
Mark Tildesley, Production Design (24 Hour Party People)
Ivan Strasburg, DoP (Bloody Sunday)
Scott Thomas, Editor (The Lawless Heart)
Alwin Kuchler, DoP (Morvern Callar)

Best Foreign Film (Foreign Language)
Monsoon Wedding
Nine Queens (Nueve Reinas)
Talk to Her (Hable con Ella)
Y Tu Mama Tambien

Best Foreign Film (English Language)
Ghost World
Ivans xtc
Lantana
Lost in La Mancha

Other Awards will include:
·The Douglas Hickox Award (Debut Director)
·The Lifetime Achievement Award
·Special Jury Prize
·The Variety UK Personality Award - Ewan McGregor