The Favourite leads the list of nominations for the 2018 British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) announced this morning by British actors Ellie Bamber and Arinzé Kene at the Everyman Cinema, King’s Cross. Yorgos Lanthimos's black comedy about the 18th century court of Queen Anne is recognized for Best British Independent Film, Best Director sponsored by Broadsword Event House and Best Screenplay sponsored by BBC Films. Olivia Colman is nominated for Best Actress sponsored by MAC, with her co-stars in the female-led ensemble, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz, competing in the Best Supporting Actress category, Weisz also receives a Best Actress nominaton for Sapphic drama Disobedience. The Favourite also sweeps the technical categories, newly introduced for the 2017 awards, with nominations for seven of the nine awards, including Best Production Design, Best Cinematography supported by Blackmagic Design, Best Make-up & Hair Design and Best Costume Design.
The Best British Independent Film nominees are American Animals (11 nominations), Beast (10 nominations), Disobedience (5 nominations), The Favourite (13 nominations) and You Were Never Really Here (8 nominations). The nominations list demonstrates a record year for female representation, with over 40% of the individual nominations recognising women in the industry across directing, writing, producing, performance and craft. Female nominees make up over 50% of the talent nominated for Best British Independent Film and dominate both Most Promising Newcomer and Breakthrough Producer supported by Creativity Media, with four out of five nominations for each award. Over 140 British films were submitted for consideration and 37 different British feature films have been nominated across the BIFA categories.
