‘It’s been the craziest moment of my life’: the 2023 British independent film award nominees on risk, romance, and why UK film is on fire

From buzzy romcom Rye Lane via the psychosexual noir Femme to the teen thrills of How to Have Sex, six nominees take us behind the scenes of the exciting new wave of British cinema

On the seventh floor of One Hundred Shoreditch hotel in east London, a group is gathered to celebrate their nominations for this year’s British independent film awards (Bifas). The favoured look is all angular shoulders, up-and-coming designers and luxe fabrics; these are some of the most innovative talents in British cinema today, and they dress like it.

Is every year this exciting? Or do these nominees represent the start of something fresh, the crest of a new wave? The solid box office performance of frontrunners Scrapper and Rye Lane bodes well – both have broken the $1m takings mark worldwide – as does the more ineffable general mood. “It definitely feels like that,” says Paris Zarcilla, writer-director of SXSW prize-winning domestic-servitude chiller Raging Grace, released in the UK on 29 December. “I think we’re seeing people finally being able to make exactly the films they want to make, without having to second guess audience tastes.” Zarcilla’s own film, the first British-Filipino feature in UK cinema history, is an example of what riches can result from this approach.