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British Independent Film Awards nominations revealed

The winners will be announced in early February.

Morfydd Clark is nominated in the best actress category for Saint Maud (Ian West/PA) Expand

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Morfydd Clark is nominated in the best actress category for Saint Maud (Ian West/PA)

Morfydd Clark is nominated in the best actress category for Saint Maud (Ian West/PA)

Morfydd Clark is nominated in the best actress category for Saint Maud (Ian West/PA)

By Alex Green, PA Entertainment Reporter

Director Rose Glass’s feature debut Saint Maud leads the nominations at the British Independent Film Awards (Bifas) with 17 nods.

The psychological horror, released in October, stars Welsh actress Morfydd Clark as a hospice nurse and recent Roman Catholic convert who becomes obsessed with a former dancer in her care, and believes she must save her soul.

The nominations for the 23rd edition of the awards were announced on Wednesday by actors Holliday Grainger and Micheal Ward.

Saint Maud is nominated for best British independent film, best screenplay and best director, as well as in a number of debut categories.

Clark is nominated for best actress while Jennifer Ehle, who plays her ailing ward, is tapped for best supporting actress.

Close behind is Remi Weekes’s His House with 16 nominations across the director, screenplay, debut and technical categories.

The feature weaves the real-life horrors faced by asylum seekers with supernatural terrors.

Sarah Gavron and Anu Henriques’s portrayal of a marginalised British teenager, Rocks, earns 15 nominations, while Calm With Horses from director Nick Rowland has 10.

Riz Ahmed as Zed in Mogul Mowgli (Pulse Films/PA) Expand

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Riz Ahmed as Zed in Mogul Mowgli (Pulse Films/PA)

Riz Ahmed as Zed in Mogul Mowgli (Pulse Films/PA)

Riz Ahmed as Zed in Mogul Mowgli (Pulse Films/PA)

Riz Ahmed earns four nominations this year comprising three for Mogul Mowgli, in which he plays a rapper searching for fame in the US, and one for The Long Goodbye, a short film which he wrote and starred in.

His Mogul Mowgli co-star Alyy Khan is also recognised in the supporting actor category.

The Richard Harris Award, introduced in 2002 in honour of the late Oscar-nominated actor, will be announced in January.

Previous winners have been Sir Daniel Day-Lewis, Dame Julie Walters, Sir John Hurt, Dame Emma Thompson, Dame Judi Dench, and Dame Kristin Scott Thomas in 2019.

Award winners will be announced in early February.

More details of the event will be released in January.

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