BIFA Voter Information and FAQs

Just for BIFA voters, we’ve created this useful information and resources page which includes a brief guide to BIFA rules and eligibility processes, along with some explainers and top FAQs, plus some useful links. If you have any questions about any part of the process please email voting@bifa.film.

VOTER DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 2025

You can find all information for voting in 2025, including key voting and meeting dates, voting process and voter code of conduct here 
You can also revisit the Voting and Adjudication information here

USEFUL INFORMATION

SUPPORTING MAterials

BIFA asks for supporting materials in the form of statements, screenplays and questionnaires to support voters in their decisions. Some materials are mandatory and some aren’t, you can see the full list of materials available to you below.

Category	Statement	Questionnaire	Other Material
Best Screenplay			Mandatory: 10 page screenplay sample (any 10 consecutive pages)
Debut Screenwriter			Mandatory: 10 page screenplay sample (any 10 consecutive pages)
Breakthrough Producer		Mandatory	Confirmation of this statement by another producer / a director / writer / HoD also involved in the project is required and they may be contacted by BIFA for additional supporting information
Raindance Maverick Award		Mandatory
Best Casting	Mandatory
Best Cinematography	Optional
Best Costume Design	Optional
Best Editing	Optional
Best Effects	Mandatory		Mandatory: Breakdown reel Reel should be a maximum of five minutes long and include how key scenes/effects within the film were achieved. It should be an accurate reflection of both the special and visual effects input. It may not include voiceover or talking heads, but factual captions are accepted.
Best Make-Up & Hair Design	Optional
Best Music Supervision		Mandatory	Mandatory: Music Cue Sheet + percentages of original and source music
Best Original Music		Mandatory	Mandatory: Music Cue Sheet + percentages of original and source music
Best Production Design	Optional
Best Sound	Mandatory (from 2025)
The Special Jury Prize	Mandatory

NEW! INFORMATION SHEETS

Here are some short information sheets on some of our awards categories roles and responsibilities to help you understand the work done by the professional(s) you’re judging, if it’s not you’re area of expertise.

Best Screenplay/Best Debut Screenwriter
Breakthrough Producer
The Raindance Maverick Award
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Effects
Best Editing
Best Make-up & Hair Design
Best Original Music
Best Music Supervision
Best Production Design
Best Sound

FREQUENtlY ASKED QUESTIONS

 

What do you consider a conflict of interest?

We consider a conflict to exist where a voter has worked directly on a film, currently works for a company that has funded or distributed a film, or has a partner or relative that worked on a film. If you’re unsure about whether you have a conflict of interest, please get in touch with voting@bifa.film.

Have all films entered into BIFA passed the BFI Diversity Standards?

Feature films entered into BIFA must meet the full BFI Diversity Standards by 12th September 2025 to be eligible for the awards.

Short films entered into to BIFA need to be assessed against the full BFI Diversity Standards, but they do not need to pass them to be eligible. You can find out more about the BFI Diversity Standards here.

Does BIFA have eligibility requirements relating to ‘healthy’ productions?

If this isn’t your first BIFA rodeo, you’ll notice that we’ve added a new section to the bottom of the film page on the voting site, which lists the various Equity, Diversity & Inclusion, Safeguarding and Sustainability training and processes have been offered and employed during the film’s production, as well as whether an intimacy coordinator has been employed where applicable.  We normally collect this data on the entry form,  but this year our Nomination Committee asked us to share it with voters.

It’s important to note:

• Adopting any policies and protocols and offering training does not form part of the BIFA eligibility criteria and should not influence how you vote, this is for your interest and information only
• This information is collected at point of entry only, so may not be available to entrants at the time they enter a film and therefore will not display on the film page.
• Entrants may not wish to share this information. With the exception of information about the employment of an intimacy coordinator where applicable, sharing this information is not mandatory and entrants may opt out if they wish.
• Absence of information in this section does not mean that a production has not supplied, adopted or undertaken any of these measures.

Why do you ask about this if it’s not part of the BIFA eligibility criteria?

BIFA strives to promote, support and encourage an inclusive and sustainable workforce within the UK media sector. We think it is important to monitor what measures productions are implementing to gather an overview of current practices in UK film production. This can help us to identify trends and also any gaps that may need to be highlighted and addressed. We want all UK film sets to be inclusive environments where filmmakers feel safe, supported and valued and believe that the embedding of robust policies and training are key to this. By gathering this information from our entrants, we can see the work that productions are doing to aid this.

What are these policies?

Some of the key policies that we ask if productions have adhered to have been linked below:

• BFI Dignity at Work Policy and Prevention of Bullying and Harassment and Racism Guidance  – principles and guidance developed with organisations across the film, television and games industries in response to urgent and systemic issues.
• CIISA Standards – a framework that sets out the minimum standards of behaviour expected across the creative industries to ensure safe and inclusive working environments.
• Mentally Healthy Productions – toolkit created by the Film and TV Charity to help create mentally healthy TV and film productions

We also ask productions what training happened during production which can include things like unconscious bias training, sustainable production training and fair recruitment training.

What does an intimacy coordinator do?

Loop Talent have produced this guide which you may find useful

What makes a film eligible for BIFA?

Each year, BIFA’s Nomination Committee review and update the BIFA rules and processes, often in response to feedback from entrants and voters. You can see our full 2025 Rules and Eligibility guidelines for features and shorts here and a prècis of this year’s updates and changes here.

Films must be independent and, except for entries to the Best International Independent Film category, they must be British. They must also have had a UK theatrical release or screening at one of our qualifying festivals during this year’s eligibility period of 1 Nov 2024 – 30 Nov 2025.
In addition, short films must have been completed on or after 1 May 2024 to be eligible for BIFA 2025.

independent

Films will usually qualify as independent where there is no involvement in the production or financing of a film by a major studio. BIFA considers the following companies to be ‘major studios’:
20th Century Studios/Searchlight Pictures/Disney, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros.

Any involvement by a major studio is assessed and a budget cap of $25m (gross) applies where there is major studio involvement. If there is no major studio involvement, no budget cap applies.

As a guide, a film which has major studio involvement may be eligible for BIFA if the film was acquired by the studio post completion for distribution only, or the gross production budget did not exceed $25m and the project was not originated or majority co-produced by the major studio.

FAQS

Why are films from studios like Universal and big streamers like Netflix often eligible as independent?

Where a film is entered that has been funded by one of the studios on our ‘major studios’ list, we’ll look closely at the involvement that the studio had in the production of the film. First, we’ll make sure the film’s gross production budget is under $25m (the budget cap for films with studio involvement), and if that budget is over the cap, the film is immediately ineligible.

If it’s under the budget cap, we look at what the studio’s role was in the origination, development and production of the film. If the studio originated the film, it’s automatically ineligible. If the film was originated outside the studio and the studio came on board with some production funding, it may be eligible and our Nomination Committee will review all the information on the production to decide if the film meets our independence criteria.

If a film was bought by a studio after completion – at Cannes, or Berlin for example,  but the studio had no involvement in the film’s production, the film is eligible as independent and no budget cap applies.

Some films are eligible for BIFA that have huge production budgets, which doesn’t seem fair. Why isn’t there a budget cap for all films?

We all know it’s really hard to get a film made independently. For films without studio backing, that usually means working with a fairly modest budget. Sometimes though, a production will have pulled together a surprisingly large budget completely independently, and we don’t want to penalise it for achieving the near impossible. If it’s independent, it’s welcome at BIFA.

Why are Streamers allowed to enter films that are on their platforms?

Films entered into BIFA must be intended for theatrical release. If a film is entered by a distributor who also has a streaming platform, we check that it has had, or will have a UK theatrical release that fulfils BIFA eligibility requirements.

BRITISH

BIFA considers a film to be ‘British’ if the writer(s), director(s) and originating producer(s) are British.

Where this is not the case, films are assessed by BIFA’s Nomination Committee, who take into account the following factors:

• Whether the film was originated by a British production company or individual(s)
• The creative contribution from the UK (i.e. key creative team, lead cast and HoDs)
• UK funding source(s)
• Where each stage of production took place

Films that are not originated by a UK production company or individual(s) and that do not have a lead UK production company are unlikely to be eligible.

UK NATIONALITY – INDIVIDUALS

Where an individual must be British to qualify for an award, such as in the debut categories, or for the purposes of identifying the nationality of a film, we will ask entrants if they or others who worked on a film have a British passport or the right to hold one, or if they have Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) or have achieved ‘settled status’ by living in the UK for more than five years. BIFA’s Nomination Committee may, at its discretion, accept individuals as ‘British’ if they have not lived in the UK for more than five years but have demonstrably been living and working in the UK for a considerable period of time and intend to do so in the future.

For short film qualification only, individuals who have not lived in the UK for more than five years will qualify as British if they have demonstrably lived in the UK for 3-5 years and intend to do so in the future.

FAQS

Why are some films eligible as British that don’t seem British at all?

Sometimes, you’ll see a film entered as British that doesn’t really look very British at all – it might be set in another country, have no British acting talent, or sometimes be in a different language. In a nutshell, BIFA exists to promote, support and reward British talent, which is why we allow films to enter even though not all elements of the production are completely British. It all goes back to our first rule – we’re looking for British filmmakers fulfilling those key creative roles of director, writer and originating producer. If at least one British person fulfils each of those key creative roles, i.e. together they’ve had the idea, written the film, got it off the ground and were key to getting it made – we don’t really care where the money came from, where it was filmed, what it’s about or which international superstars helped get it over the line, for us it’s all about British origination and talent.

Where those three key creative roles don’t all have British input, the BIFA Nomination Committee look at all elements of production such as origination, development, where the production took place, who led on it, if the majority of cast and crew is British and where the money came from. They’re looking to see that the film is majority British, or majority British co-produced, to help them decide if the film is eligible.

Conversely, if a film looks very British, is made in the UK, is about British subject matter and the key cast is British, but none of the key creatives qualify as British and it doesn’t have a UK lead production company, it probably wouldn’t be eligible.

.

Love Lies Bleeding

Key Creative	British?
Director: Rose Glass	Yes
Writer(s): Rose Glass, Weronika Tofilska	Yes (Rose Glass)
Producer(s): Andrea Cornwell, Oliver Kassman	Yes
Film eligible as British?	Yes

 

Why can non-British people enter some categories but not others?

Once a film is deemed eligible as British, it’s creatives, cast and crew are eligible to enter our awards categories, whatever their nationality. The exception to this is our five debut categories, which highlight and platform exceptional new British talent. Those are:

The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director)
Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary
Best Debut Screenwriter
Breakthrough Producer
Breakthrough Performance

Is there anything else you’d like to see on this page? Let us know at voting@bifa.film