The 2021 British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) were held on 5 December, celebrating the best of independent British cinema over the last 12 months. Following the announcement of the winners in the craft categories on 19 November, the second, in-person, ceremony, awarded the remaining 14 categories.
Among the nominations, a total of 11 films contributed to the ScreenSkills Film Skills Fund, amassing a combined total of 52 nominations across all categories. The fund is managed by ScreenSkills to invest in skills and training for UK film production. Over the 22 awards handed out, 14 were given to contributing titles.
The night’s big winner was Aleem Khan’s After Love, winning six awards including Best British Independent Film, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Screenplay. Joanna Hogg’s acclaimed sequel The Souvenir Part II picked up three awards for production design, editing and costume design. Ali & Ava, Clio Barnard’s Yorkshire-set tale of the eponymous couple battling circumstance and family to form an unlikely bond, saw Adeel Akhtar collect the best actor accolade and was awarded in the best music category, while the prize for make-up and hair design went to the Benedict Cumberbatch-starring The Electrical Life of Louis Wain.
There were also two wins for music-centred documentary, Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché. The story of the pink singer and X-Ray Spex frontwoman was rewarded in the Discovery and Documentary categories.
Other nominated productions included Censor, Benediction, Pirates, Everybody's Talking About Jamie, True Things and Nowhere Special.
Through ScreenSkills’ trainee finder programme, 38 new entrants received paid placements on eight of the nominated productions and received their first taste of a working film set across costume, hair and make-up, art, camera and sound departments.
In 2018 ScreenSkills piloted its Unconscious Bias Training programme with BIFA, helping voters to recognise and mitigate against potential subliminal biases. They continue to be a ScreenSkills partner, delivering training programmes supported by contributions by UK film productions and National Lottery funds awarded by the BFI.