BBC Film had a successful evening at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) on Sunday evening, with awards handed out to six films across the slate. The latest winners were announced at a ceremony at the Roundhouse on Sunday 30 November adding to the three wins in craft categories announced on Thursday 20 November. The six winning films were Pillion, My Father’s Shadow, Ish, Lollipop, Harvest and Sentimental Value.

Harry Lighton’s Pillion took home the Best British Independent Film award alongside Best Debut Screenwriter (Harry Lighton), Best Costume Design (Grace Snell) and Best Make-Up & Hair Design (Diandra Ferreira).

My Father’s Shadow took the Best Director award for Akinola Davies Jr.’s work on his debut feature. Dhiraj Mahey took the Breakthrough Producer award for Imran Perretta’s Ish. Posy Sterling took the Breakthrough Performance award for her work in Daisy-May Hudson’s Lollipop. Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value took home Best International Independent Film and Nathan Parker won Best Production Design for his work on Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Harvest.

Eva Yates, Director of BBC Film says: “The BIFAs were a tremendous celebration of the variety and boldness of British and international independent filmmaking this year. At BBC Film, we are all very proud to have played a part in bringing these stories to life on screen, and these talents a huge step further in their filmmaking careers.”

In total ten films backed by BBC Film received a total of 39 nominations for this year’s British Independent Film Awards.

Full list of BIFA wins for BBC Film:

Best British Independent Film
Pillion – Harry Lighton, Lee Groombridge, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Emma Norton
Best Director
Akinola Davies Jr. – My Father’s Shadow
Best Debut Screenwriter
Harry Lighton – Pillion
Breakthrough Producer
Dhiraj Mahey – Ish (also produced by Bennett McGhee)
Breakthrough Performance
Posy Sterling – Lollipop
Best International Independent Film
Sentimental Value – Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt, Maria Ekerhovd, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar
Best Costume Design*
Grace Snell – Pillion
Best Make-Up & Hair Design*
Diandra Ferreira – Pillion 
Best Production Design*
Nathan Parker – Harvest

*Craft category winners were announced on Thursday 20 November.

Details of all 39 BBC Film nominations for the 2025 BIFAs are available here.

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