Announcing the BIFA Best Debut Director 2024 Longlist

Geena (Erin Moriarty) and her violent criminal husband Clyde (Jai Courtney) hide out in an abandoned commune in the Texas desert, hunted by the law and his former gang members looking to settle old scores. Geena is desperate for interaction with the outside world and exhausted by Clyde’s controlling ways. She decides to leave, but a trailer suddenly arrives carrying Amaya (Dina Shihabi) and Andy (Ryan Corr), a vacationing couple from New York City seeking to save their troubled marriage. Ignoring the risks their presence will bring, Geena convinces Clyde to let them stay, a decision with dangerous consequences for them all.

11-year-old Evie arrives in Cornwall expecting a girls’ holiday with her mum. But when she meets local boy Adam, a mysterious discovery down an old tin mine changes everything. As they begin to question what is real and imagined in their lives above ground, childhood narratives unravel and a darker, more complex picture of the adult world takes shape.

Maria’s childhood in South London with her mother Cynthia, an obsessive hoarder, feels magical until tragedy separates them. Years later, Maria seeks to reconnect with her mother in the only way she knows how – by rummaging through bins for discarded treasures and collecting bags full of garbage.

In post-troubles Belfast, the riotous rap trio Kneecap emerges, setting the stage for the Irish language’s resurgence against the establishment. Self-proclaimed ‘low life scum’ Liam Óg and Naoise, along with school teacher JJ, become a political symbol and the defiant voice of Ireland’s restless youth. As they struggle to make their mark on the world, and family and relationship pressures threaten to pull the plug on their dreams, the trio weave a narrative that transcends music. A true-life fable about man’s intrinsic urge for identity, the allure of drugs and a passion for life, Kneecap is a thrilling ride pulsating with hip-hop beats.

Set over a sweltering A-Level results day in London, Last Swim follows Ziba, a promising British-Iranian teen, as she leads her friends on an eventful journey across the city, culminating in a once in a lifetime astronomical event. Despite the celebratory atmosphere, Ziba struggles to retain her characteristic optimism as she finds herself battling the intrusive fears and secrets she’s been hiding from her friends. As day turns to night, Ziba has no choice but to confront the irreversible event she has planned for the end of this last day of untainted adolescence.

Layla is a struggling Arab drag queen whose confident façade hides their desperate desire for love. When their performance at a belittling corporate Pride event turns into a transgressive takedown, they are surprised to catch the eye of marketing executive Max, whose attentions sweep Layla off their feet. The two start an intoxicating romance, but as Layla starts to alter who they are in order to keep Max’s interest, they both have to face uncomfortable truths.

Bo flees the capital of Laos in pursuit of a life in photojournalism. Along the way, she encounters Satu, a Buddhist orphan who might just have the story she’s looking for. The duo traverses the rich tropical landscape by motorcycle in search of answers and even themselves.

A genre-bending comedy about a frustrated and misanthropic newlywed who discovers certain feral impulses that land her in unlikely situations.

Ella Blake is a stop-motion animator who is struggling to control her demons after the loss of her overbearing mother. Suddenly alone in the world, she embarks upon the creation of a macabre new puppet film, which soon becomes the battleground for her sanity. As Ella’s mind starts to fracture, the characters in her animated film take on a terrifying life of their own, and the unleashed power of her imagination threatens to destroy her. Stopmotion is a distinctive and utterly original psychological horror film that explores themes of control, creativity and madness.

Two migrant workers are forced to bury a colleague in the Yorkshire hills. When one demands to perform the dead man his rightful Islamic burial, nerves begin to fray and a righteous power struggle emerges as the long and bitter winter night closes in on them.

A mother (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her teenage daughter (Lola Petticrew) must confront Death when it arrives in the form of an astonishing talking bird. From debut filmmaker Daina O. Pusić, Tuesday is a heart-rending fairy tale about the echoes of loss and finding resilience in the unexpected.

The story of a queer South Asian nightclub performer living a double life, and a young, single father who works as a mechanic. When they meet, a search for identity is sparked.