The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) today announced the longlist for Breakthrough Performance sponsored by Netflix. Renowned for spotting tomorrow’s stars today, 2023’s highly anticipated longlist features outstanding performers from some of the UK’s most talked about independent films of the year. Previous nominees and winners of this category include Ben Whishaw, Jamie Bell, Naomi Ackie, Hayley Atwell, John Boyega, Florence Pugh, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Letitia Wright.
Launching this year, BIFA will be working in partnership with We Are Bridge to offer a programme of development and support to the performers longlisted in this category. Founded in 2018, We Are Bridge began as an aftercare programme for the cast of Rocks, led by a collective of the filmmakers behind the BIFA and BAFTA-winning film. Since then, WAB has evolved into an industry body committed to ensuring the legacy of new and emerging talent. Running over six months, the programme will include sessions covering career development, wellbeing, casting and financial literacy in addition to networking opportunities. It will also deliver a safeguarding industry training session to support those responsible for looking after new on-screen talent.
The final five nominees will be announced Thursday 2 November. Winners will be revealed at the 26th BIFA ceremony on Sunday 3 December.
For details of how to watch the longlisted films, visit watch.bifa.film.
Breakthrough Performance sponsored by Netflix
JOE ANDERS Bonus Track
JEDAIAH BANNERMAN The Kitchen
LE’SHANTEY BONSU Girl
LOLA CAMPBELL Scrapper
CARLY-SOPHIA DAVIES The Eternal Daughter
DAVID JONSSON Rye Lane
PRIYA KANSARA Polite Society
MIA MCKENNA BRUCE How to Have Sex
KEENAN MUNN-FRANCIS Black Dog
TEMILOLA OLATUNBOSUN Pretty Red Dress
VIVIAN OPARAH Rye Lane
SAMUEL SMALL Bonus Track
FREDDY SMITH Suicide Kelly
DAVE TURNER The Old Oak
ALIN UZUN Scrapper
Notes – BIFA Voting Process
BIFA has over 1500 registered voters (working film industry professionals), of whom over 500 will take part in Nominations Voting in 2023. Subgroups are formed to watch, discuss and vote on groups of categories, with rigorously applied processes to ensure that every film is watched and discussed. Round One voting produces Long Lists (which are published for the new talent categories, plus Shorts, International, Maverick and Feature Documentary). A further round of voting produces the nominations.
In Rounds One and Two, voters must see a minimum proportion of listed films in order to vote and each film must be seen by a minimum number of voters. Votes are calculated taking into account the number of voters who have seen a film. Viewing and voting is supplemented with subgroup meetings in which every entered film is discussed.
The Filmmaker Jury decides the winners of the Director, Debut Director, Debut Director – Feature Documentary, Screenplay, Debut Screenwriter and Breakthrough Producer categories. The Performance Jury decides the winners of all performance awards. The juries also select the recipient of the Special Jury Prize (given to an unsung hero of British independent film). BIFA’s Nomination Committee selects the recipient of The Richard Harris Award. All other winners are decided by a vote amongst all registered BIFA voters (who must see all nominees before voting). All voters and jurors must complete unconscious bias training before voting.
