The debut filmmakers behind ‘mockumentary’ Kneecap and feature documentaries The Contestant, Copa 71 and Grand Theft Hamlet have made the shortlist for this year’s British Independent Film Awards (Bifas).
Rich Peppiatt is up for best director, best screenwriter, debut director and debut screenwriter for Kneecap [pictured], which leads the way with 14 nominations.
Hazel Pictures/Park Pictures’ Grand Theft Hamlet, which centres on two out-of-work actors attempting to stage a full production of the Shakespeare play within the game Grand Theft Auto, has scored four nominations.
Married co-directors Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane are in the running for best debut director – feature documentary, while producer Rebecca Wolff is shortlisted for breakthrough producer.
The film is also up for best feature documentary and the Raindance Maverick Award.
The other first-time feature documentary directors nominated are Rachel Ramsay for Copa 71, which she co-directed with James Erskine, Clair Titley for The Contestant, and Manon Ouimet and Jacob Perlmutter, co-directors of Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other.
The Contestant and Two Strangers… are also up for best feature doc, with Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story and Witches rounding off the list.
The other breakthrough producer nominees comprise Hollie Bryan and Lucy Meer for The Ceremony, Balthazar De Ganay and James Bowsher for Santosh, Jacob Swan Hyam for Bring Them Down, and Ben Toye for Treading Water.
This year’s BIFAs take place at The Roundhouse in Camden on Sunday 8 December. For a full list of nominees, click here
