Andrew Scott drama Elsinore has emerged as the leading contender for the British independent film awards (Bifas) with 12 nominations, including best British independent film, best director for Simon Stone and best lead performance for Scott.
The film, in which Scott plays actor Ian Charleson as he takes on Shakespeare's Hamlet in the last months of his life before dying of Aids in 1990, also co-stars Olivia Colman, Billie Piper and Johnny Flynn. It has drawn strong reviews since its premiere at the Telluride film festival in September.
Rave reviews and Oscar talk
The Guardian's Benjamin Lee called it “a devastating movie [that] is a reminder of Charleson's strength and the many men like him and it implores us to remember them too”. Scott is already being tipped as the favourite for the best actor Oscar, which would make him the first out gay actor to win.
In second place is Clio Barnard's Birmingham-set ensemble drama I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, which received eight nominations, including best British independent film, best director for Barnard and best ensemble performance for its main cast.
Other leading nominees
In a five-star review, the Guardian's chief critic Peter Bradshaw said its “mix of poignancy, defiance and contaminated euphoria stayed with me hours after the closing credits”. Animol, the feature-length directing debut of Top Boy and Adolescence star Ashley Walters, came third with seven nominations, including best lead performance for Tut Nyuot and best debut director for Walters. Mike Leigh's final film, Tender Loving Care, has four nominations.
The Bifas are distinctive for their non-gendered acting categories, in which Scott and Nyuot will compete against, among others, Juliette Binoche for dementia drama Queen at Sea and Leisa Gwenllian for Welsh-language stage play adaptation Effi o Blaenau.
Cinema of the year and ceremony
The Bifas include an award for cinema of the year, won in its inaugural year in 2025 by the Magic Lantern Cinema in Tywyn, Wales. This year's contenders include Campus West in Welwyn Garden City, the Hippodrome in Bo'ness, and the Ultimate Picture Palace in Oxford, the last of which is threatened with closure by its landlord, Oriel College, Oxford University.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony at the Roundhouse in London on 6 December.
