My Father’s Shadow Looms Over Competition at the British Independent Film Awards | film

My Father’s Shadow, set in Nigeria, is the main contender at this year’s British Independent Film Awards (Bifas), having picked up 12 nominations, including best British independent film, best director for Akinola Davies Jr, and best screenplay for Davies’ brother Will. The film beat out “Billion,” an adaptation of Adam Mars Jones’s coming-of-age story, which received 10 nominations, and the biopic “I Swear,” which received nine nominations.

My Father’s Shadow, which stars Sope Dirisu and is Davies’s first feature as a director, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to rave reviews. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described it as “a transparently personal project and a coming-of-age film in its (shocking) way, a poignant account of how two young boys see, for just one day, the real life and real history of their father who has been absent for most of their lives.” The film has not yet been released in the UK, but it has already been released in Nigeria.

Likewise, Pillion had a successful premiere at Cannes in May, with Bradshaw describing it as “an intensely English story of romance, devotion and loss from debut feature director Harry Layton, who has created something funny, poignant and unsettling – like a cross between Alan Bennett and Tom of Finland with a dash of what we might call BDSM Wallace and Gromit.” It is due for release in the UK later in November, and is nominated for Best British Independent Film, Best Director for Eton and Best Leading Performance for Harry Melling.

I Swear is already in cinemas, having been released in October. The film revolves around the life story of John Davidson, an activist for Tourette Syndrome, and is also nominated for Best British Independent Film, Best Director for Kirk Jones, and Best Leading Performance for Robert Aramayo.

The nominations also include, for the first time, the Cinema of the Year Award, which is voted on by the public. Competitors include The Depot in Lewes, The Magic Lantern in Tywin, Montrose Theatre, Queen’s Film Theater in Belfast and Watershed in Bristol.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony held in London on November 30.