British Independent Film Awards introduce gender-neutral categories

06/07/2022

British Independent Film Awards introduce gender-neutral categoriesThe British Independent Film Awards have dropped its male and female acting categories and have also introduced new awards for filmmakers.

by Naledi de Wee

06-07-2022 10:02

in Entertainment

The British Independent Film Awards have introduced gender-neutral categories. Image via Pixabay

The British Independent Film Awards (Bifas), which honour Britain's top film stars and filmmakers, are the latest awards show to drop male and female categories. For this year's awards, set to take place in December, organisers are also adding new categories for filmmakers.

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This change comes after the BRIT Awards introduced gender-neutral categories at its show earlier this year, with singer-songwriter Adele taking home the most awards.

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BIFAS INTRODUCE GENDER-NEUTRAL ACTING CATEGORIES To celebrate its 25th year, the Bifas have replaced its male and female acting categories with gender-neutral categories.

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As per Variety, the Best and Supporting Actor and Actress awards will be replaced by the Best Lead Performance award, Best Supporting Performance and Best Joint Lead performance.

The Bifas will keep their Breakthrough Performance Award which is sponsored by streaming giant Netflix.

At BIFA, we're making some changes.

Marking the Awards' 25th year with a shake up to traditional performance categories, we're introducing four new acting awards to celebrate the outstanding acting talent on display in British independent film.

https://t.co/DCosx0K9GQ pic.twitter.com/Itm1FoAEBI

BIFA (@BIFA_film) July 5, 2022

BIFAS NEW FILMMAKING AWARDS The Bifas are also adding a category for directors who are making their debuts and will be honouring them in the Best Debut Director, Feature Documentary category. The Douglas Hickox Award, which was open to all directors, will now only be for fiction feature films.

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The best music award will now be split into two different categories, Best Original Music and Best Music Supervision.

We're very excited to be able to launch Bifa's new expanded awards categories which will more fully capture the range of exceptional performances and acting talent in British independent film and allow us to celebrate even more talent than ever before, said awards directors Amy Gustin and Deena Wallace.

ALSO READ: Overdoing the woke stuff!': Gender-neutral Brit Awards sparks outrage

NOMINEES ANNOUNCEMENT AND AWARDS SHOW After Love, which marked filmmaker Aleen Khan's directorial debut, dominated the British Independent Film Awards in 2021 with six overall wins. The film won the Best British Independent Film, Best Director and Best Screen Play.

The nominees for the 2022 annual Bifas will be announced on 3 November and the official awards ceremony will take place on 4 December.

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