Scottish talent shines in BIFA nomination list

The BIFAs (the British Independent Film Awards) continue to make a fine antidote to the stodgy BAFTAs. By the time the Oscars roll around next year, you’ll be sick and tired of the same old names and films being nominated during the awards season, but the BIFAs’ focus on indie UK talent always makes its line-up of nominees much more eclectic.

Leading the pack this year is Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite with 13 nominations, closely followed by heist movie-docudrama hybrid American Animals with 11 and Michael Pearce’s Jersey-set romantic thriller Beast with ten. We’re also delighted to see eight nominations go the way of Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here, the Glaswegian director’s extraordinary crime thriller starring Joaquin Phoenix as a depressed, laconic hitman.

Ramsay isn’t the only Scottish talent recognised by the BIFAs in 2018, a year that’s beginning to look like a banner one for filmmaking north of the Border. November alone sees the release of David Mackenzie’s Robert the Bruce epic Outlaw King, spritely zombie horror-musical Anna and the Apocalypse and stirring doc Nae Pasaran!, which gives a hint to the eclectic mix of Scottish films being released this year.

Nae Pasaran! is one of the Scottish films recognised at this year’s BIFA, competing for best documentary. The Scottish-made film with the most nods is Matt Palmer’s fat-free hunting-trip-gone-wrong thriller Calibre with three nominations: Best Director and Best Screenwriter for Palmer, and Breakthrough Producer for Anna Griffin. Palmer will be hoping to add to the Michael Powell award for Best British Film he won at Edinburgh Film Festival earlier this year.

Palmer is joined on the Best Screenwriter ballot by Karen Gillan for her debut feature film The Party's Just Beginning, which premiered at Glasgow Film Festival back in February. Two more Scottish films that made their bow at GFF are nominated in the Discovery Award category: May Miles Thomas’ Voyages, a vivid essay film about Thomas’ mother-in-law, and Douglas King’s Super November, a curious romantic comedy that morphs into a dystopian fantasy starring Josie Long, who also wrote the film.

There's no doubt that the Scottish film industry is far from perfect, but this breadth of work being made with such meager resources is encouraging, and it's great to see it being recognised at the BIFAs.

---

Nae Pasaran! is released on 2 November in selected cinemas; Super November tours UK cinemas from 25 November, including Glasgow Film Theatre, Edinburgh’s Filmhouse and the DCA in Dundee, and the tour will include Q&As with Douglas King and Josie Long; and Calibre screens at Glasgow Film Theatre on 3 November, followed by a Q&A with Matt Palmer

For a full list of BIFA nominations, head to https://www.bifa.film