Andrew Scott Drama Elsinore Leads British Independent Film Award Nominations with 12 Nods
Elsinore, the drama starring Andrew Scott, has emerged as the leading contender for the British independent film awards (Bifas), receiving 12 nominations.
In the film, Scott plays the actor Ian Charleson as he takes on Shakespeare's Hamlet in the last months of his life, before he died of Aids in 1990. The film is directed by Simon Stone and co-stars Olivia Colman, Billie Piper and Johnny Flynn.
Elsinore's nominations include best British independent film, best director for Stone and best lead performance for Scott. The film has collected rave reviews since its premiere at the Telluride film festival in September. Scott is also already being tipped as the favourite for the best actor Oscar, and he would be 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 has eight nominations including best British independent film, best director for Barnard and best ensemble performance for its main cast.
Animol, the feature-length directing debut of Top Boy and Adolescence star Ashley Walters, came in 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.
With their focus on British independent cinema, the Bifas are also 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.
The Bifas have an award for cinema of the year, which was 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.
