CEREMONY DATE, NEW CATEGORIES ANNOUNCED FOR BIFA 25TH ANNIVERSARY
JOINT LEAD AND ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE CATEGORIES ADDED
NEW DEBUT DOCUMENTARY CATEGORY
NEW MUSIC AWARDS
ED&I TRAINING CONTINUES
NEW BOARD MEMBERS ADDED INCLUDING DOMINIC BUCHANAN
Tuesday 5th July: The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) today announced its new performance awards, a new debut director category for feature documentaries, and two new music awards.
Marking the Awards’ 25th year with a shake up to traditional performance categories, BIFA will present five acting awards that celebrate and reward the outstanding acting talent on display in British independent film. The new performance categories are Best Lead Performance, Best Supporting Performance, Best Joint Lead Performance – for two (or exceptionally three) performances that are the joint focus of the film – and Best Ensemble. BIFA’s established Breakthrough Performance award sponsored by Netflix remains unchanged and rounds out the new set of awards.
BIFA Directors Amy Gustin and Deena Wallace said:
“We’re very excited to be able to launch BIFA’s new expanded awards categories which will more fully capture the range of exceptional performances and acting talent in British independent film and allow us to celebrate even more talent than ever before.’’
In addition BIFA is adding a new debut director category: Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary, to sit alongside the Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director (sponsored by BBC Film), which will now be for fiction features only. The award for Best Music, which previously recognised both original composition and music supervision, will be separated into Best Original Music and Best Music Supervision.
New dates for BIFA’s vital Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training, running from July until January 2023 are confirmed. The programme of training includes Anti-Bullying and Harassment, Fair Recruitment in the Workplace and Unconscious Bias courses, and is supported by ScreenSkills’ Film Skills Fund with contributions from UK film production. Also new for 2022 is Budgeting & Scheduling for Virtual Production in partnership with Treehouse Digital supported by ScreenSkills as part of the BFI Future Film Skills programme using funds from the National Lottery.
BIFA has welcomed new members to its Board of Directors. Award winning producer and head of Home Team, Dominic Buchanan; Carmen Thompson, cultural curator for We Are Parable and producer at Aya Films and Tim Platt, Head of Marketing and Audience Growth at the British Film Institute.
The 2022 nominations will be announced on Thursday 3 November and the ceremony will take place on Sunday 4 December.
BIFA 2022 Performance Categories
Best Lead Performance
For performance in a lead role. Up to 10 nominees.
Best Supporting Performance
For performance in a supporting role. Up to 10 nominees.
Breakthrough Performance sponsored by Netflix
For UK performers taking their first lead or significant supporting role in a theatrical feature film. Five nominees.
Best Joint Lead Performance
For two (or exceptionally three) performances that are the joint focus of the film, especially where performances share a large number of scenes and screen time. Up to five nominees.
Best Ensemble Performance
For an ensemble performance including lead(s) and exceptional supporting performers OR two or more performers in supporting roles who share significant scenes and screen time. Up to five nominees.
Other New Categories
Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary
For a British director for their debut feature documentary. Previous television or fiction feature credits do not disqualify an individual from consideration.
Best Music Supervision
For films in which sourced music makes up at least 40% of the film’s music soundtrack.
Best Original Music sponsored by Universal Music Publishing Group
For films in which original score makes up at least 40% of the film’s music soundtrack.
Rules and eligibility information for entering films into the 2022 Awards can be found here.
