“Elsinore,” the acclaimed biographical drama that has already propelled its lead star Andrew Scott into the Oscars best actor race, has emerged as the film to beat at the 2026 British Independent Film Awards.
The Studiocanal feature, in which Scott portrays Ian Charleson, the “Chariots of Fire” star who was offered the career-peak role of Hamlet at London’s National Theatre just as he was succumbing to complications from AIDS, has landed 12 BIFA nominations. Among the nods for the feature, which opened the BFI London Film Festival, are best British independent film, director for Simon Stone, lead performance for Scott and supporting actor for Billie Piper.
Announced Tuesday by previous BIFA winners Jay Lycurgo and Posy Sterling, the BIFA nominations also gave high praise to Cleo Barnard’s “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning,” which earned eight nominations, followed by Ashley Walters’ feature directorial debut “Animol,” with seven. Welsh-language feature “Effi O Blaenau” and “Queen at Sea” both emerged with six nominations, including best British independent film.
Elsewhere, there was love for new filmmakers and old, with feature directorial debuts “Extra Geography,” “Straight Circle” and “Florid” getting five nominations each and “Tender Loving Care,” the final film from indie cinema icon Mike Leigh, landing three (including best British independent film and director).
This 2026 cohort of nominees is perhaps one of the most eclectic in years for the BIFAs, underlined by the gender neutral lead performance category, where Scott rubs shoulders with an icon in Juliette Binoche (“Queen at Sea”), an Emmy-winner in her first lead role in Erin Doherty (“Faith”), another actor marking their first lead in Jonathan Jules (“Florid”) and newcomer Tut Nyout (“Animol”).
The British Independent Film Awards winners will be announced in two parts, with the Craft winners unveiled on Nov. 24 on BIFA’s social channels and other categories revealed at the BIFA ceremony on Dec. 6 at London’s Roundhouse.
“Effi O Blaenau” — Marc Evans, Gary Owen, Branwen Cennard
“Elsinore” — Simon Stone, Stephen Beresford, Andrea Occhipinti, Gabrielle Tana, Pete Shilaimon, Mickey Liddell, Stefano Massenzi, Carolyn Marks Blackwood, Andrew Scott
“I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning” — Clio Barnard, Enda Walsh, Tracy O’Riordan
“Queen at Sea” — Lance Hammer, Tristan Goligher
“Tender Loving Care” — Mike Leigh, Georgina Lowe
Clio Barnard — “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning”
Andrew Haigh — “A Long Winter”
Mark Jenkin — “Rose of Nevada”
Mike Leigh — “Tender Loving Care”
Simon Stone — “Elsinore”
Juliette Binoche — “Queen at Sea”
Erin Doherty — “Faith”
Leisa Gwenllian — “Effi O Blaenau”
Jonathan Jules — “Florid”
Tut Nyuot — “Animol”
Andrew Scott — “Elsinore”
Anna Calder-Marshall — “Queen at Sea”
Tom Courtenay — “Queen at Sea”
Sekou Diaby — “Animol”
Claire Foy — “Ink”
Billie Piper — “Elsinore”
Bill Pullman — “Everybody Digs Bill Evans”
Séamus Mclean Ross, Samuel Bottomley — “California Schemin’”
Flora Nicholson, Clare Dunne, Mia Tharia — “The Education of Jane Cumming”
Marni Duggan, Galaxie Clear — “Extra Geography”
Chimpaye Florence Mariserena, Bizimana Hussain — “Small Gods”
“I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning” — Anthony Boyle, Joe Cole, Jay Lycurgo, Daryl McCormack, Lola Petticre
“Sunny Dancer” — Bella Ramsey, Daniel Quinn-Toye, Ruby Stokes, Earl Cave, Conrad Khan, Jasmine Elcock, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Louis Gaunt, Josie Walker, Jessica Gunning, James Norton, Neil Patrick Harris, James Blunt
“Tender Loving Care” — Marion Bailey, Paul Jesson, Kate O’Flynn, Alice Bailey Johnson
Stephen Beresford — “Elsinore”
Lance Hammer — “Queen at Sea”
Mike Leigh — “Tender Loving Care”
Gary Owen — “Effi O Blaenau”
Enda Walsh — “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning”
Billy Lumby — “Florid”
Molly Manners — “Extra Geography”
Bertil Nilsson — “Masc”
Louis Paxton — “The Incomer”
Ashley Walters — “Animol”
Itab Azzam, Jack MacInnes, Will Anderson, James Bluemel, Andrew Palmer — “One in a Million” (also produced by Raney Aronson-Rath)
Branwen Cennard — “Effi O Blaenau”
Tom Hawkins — “Animol” (also produced by Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor, Nick Love, Ashley Walters)
Oskar Pimlott — “Bad Apples”
Alex Polunin — “Black Church Bay” (also produced by Tristan Goligher)
Galaxie Clear — “Extra Geography”
Sekou Diaby — “Animol”
Leisa Gwenllian — “Effi O Blaenau”
Jonathan Jules — “Florid”
Tut Nyuot — “Animol”
Miriam Battye — “Extra Geography”
Thea Gajić — “Surviving Earth”
Rhys Marc Jones — “Black Church Bay”
Jess O’Kane — “Bad Apples”
Louis Paxton — “The Incomer”
Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak — “Birds of War”
Ed Sayers — “Super Nature”
Rachel Taparjan — “Something Familiar”
Abbeygate Cinema
Campus West
Hippodrome Cinema
The Kinema in the Woods
The Ultimate Picture Palace
“Act 3” — Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor, Alex Thiele, Hannah Patterson
“Chatlines” — Neil Ely, Lloyd Eyre-Morgan, Paul Mortlock
“Masc” — Bertil Nilsson
“The Peril at Pincer Point” — Jake Kuhn, Noah Stratton-Twine
“Something Familiar” — Rachel Taparjan, Monica Lăzurean-Lorgan, Elena Martin, Aleksandra Bilic
“All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea” — Jeanie Finlay, Charlie Phillips
“Everybody to Kenmure Street” — Felipe Bustos Sierra, Ciara Barry
“One in a Million” — Itab Azzam, Jack MacInnes, Will Anderson, Andrew Palmer, James Bluemel, Raney Aronson-Rath
“Something Familiar” — Rachel Taparjan, Aleksandra Bilic, Monica Lăzurean-Lorgan
“We, the Hated” — Rich Felgate, David Allen
“Allies in Exile” — Hasan Kattan, Orlando von Einsiedel
“Coyotes” — Said Zagha, Myriam Sassine, Laura Jumel
“Forgotten Spaceman” — Elham Ehsas, Lorraine Bhattachary
“Untitled Woman” — Camille Summers-Valli, Rosmarie Vind, Sorcha Bacon, Martha McGuirk, David Zander
“Vote Gavin Lyle” — Aneil Karia, Scott O’Donnell, Tom Gardner
“All of a Sudden” — Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Léa Le Dimna, David Gauquié, Julien Deris, Kôsuke Oshida, Yûji Sadai, Jean-Luc Ormières, Renan Artukmaç, Hiroko Matsuda
“Club Kid” — Jordan Firstman, Galen Core, Alex Coco
“La Bola Negra” — Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo
“La Gradiva” — Marine Atlan, Anne Brouilet, Inès Daïen Dasi
“Possible Love” — Lee Chang-dong, Oh Jung-mi
Shaheen Baig — “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning”
Heather Basten — “Animol”
Lara Manwaring — “Florid”
Lucy Pardee — “Extra Geography”
Jessica Ronane — “Elsinore”
Mike Eley — “Elsinore”
Piers McGrail — “Everybody Digs Bill Evans”
Christopher Ripley — “Straight Circle”
Simon Tindall — “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning”
André Turpin — “A Long Winter”
Sarah Blenkinsop — “The Incomer”
Alex Bovaird — “Savage House”
Carol Case — “A Long Winter”
Darion Hing — “Straight Circle”
Mel Page — “Elsinore”
Valerio Bonelli — “Elsinore”
Otto Burnham — “Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story”
Fouad Gaber — “Straight Circle”
Maya Maffioli — “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning”
Fin Oates — “Ink”
Jon Biggins, Jeff Dillon — “Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom”
Ruslan Borysov, Richard Cheal, Tim Ledbury — “The Magic Faraway Tree”
Daniel Morris — “The Incomer”
Connie Farr — “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning”
Connie Farr — “Queen at Sea”
Phil Canning — “Sunny Dancer”
Jacquetta Levon — “Savage House”
Nadia Stacey — “Elsinore”
Nadia Stacey — “Madfabulous”
Karen Hartley Thomas — “The Magic Faraway Tree”
Tristan Versluis — “Straight Circle”
Roger Goula — “Everybody Digs Bill Evans”
Stefan Gregory — “Elsinore”
Mark Jenkin — “Rose of Nevada”
Hannah Peel — “Underland”
Siôn Trefor, Ioana Selaru — “Effi O Blaenau”
Luke Moran-Morris — “Straight Circle”
Gareth Pugh, Carson McColl — “Ink”
Helen Scott — “Elsinore”
Alexandra Walker — “The Magic Faraway Tree”
Gary Williamson — “Savage House”
Andy Coles, John Brennan — “Everybody Digs Bill Evans”
Paul Cotterell, Ron Osiowy, Joakim Sundström — “A Long Winter”
Simon Hayes, Johnnie Burn — “Ink”
Mark Jenkin, Ian Wilson — “Rose of Nevada”
Dario Swade, George Elliott, Tom Harburt — “Florid”
