British Urban Film Festival (BUFF) Announces Nominations For 2025 Award Ceremony

The British Urban Film Festival (BUFF) has unveiled the nominations for its 2025 Awards ceremony, which will mark the finale of the festival’s 20th anniversary edition.

BUFF continues its mission to spotlight underrepresented voices in film, with nominees spanning UK and international short films, features, documentaries, animation, and performance.

This year’s festival will feature the UK premiere of The Professional Parent, which has also qualified for consideration in the 98th Academy Awards’ Best Live Action Short Film category. Last year, Rock, Paper, Scissors, which premiered at BUFF, went on to win Best Short Film at the BAFTA Film Awards.

“As BUFF turns 20, these nominations reflect the bold storytelling and diverse voices that define our festival. From rising stars to established icons, the BUFF Awards shine a light on talent shaping the future of cinema“, said Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe, the festival’s founder and director.

The full list of nominees include:

Best UK Short Film

• The Launch (Steven Orange Eniraiyetan)
• Sunshine (Manu Kurewa)
• Softy (Joshua Reeves)

Best International Short Film

• Rise (Jessica J. Rowlands)
• The Untying (Meagan Noel Fulps)
• Lola (Grace Hanna)

Best Actress in a Short

• Titana Muthui ( Sunshine )
• Ronkè Adékôluêjó ( The Launch )
• Diém Camille (No Place for a Kid)

Best Actress in a Feature (The Blessing Anyiam-Osigwe Award)

• Sitsofe Tsikor (Letters to Goddo)
• Endurance Dedzo (The Fisherman)
• Stella Damasus (Water Girl)

Best Actor in a Short

• Joseph Obasohan ( Softy )
• Oliver Samuels (Sugar Dumplin)
• Karl Collins (The Last Dance)

Best Actor in a Feature (The Anthony Adjekum Award)

• Solomon Fixon Owoo (Letters to Goddo)
• Nicholas Pinnock (Heavyweight)
• Elijah Baker (Tapped)

Best International Feature

• Letters to Goddo (Harry Bentil)
• Water Girl
• The Fisherman (Zoey Martinson)

Best UK Feature (The Victor Adebodun Award)

• Heavyweight (Christopher M. Anthony)
• Tapped (Teoman Sayin)
• An Enemy Within (John Kennedy)

Best Soundtrack

• Sunshine (Giles Lamb)
• Lola (Johan Macaraeg)
• Fight or Flight (Tessa White)

Best Documentary

• Inmates With Talent (Johnny Collins, Joel Jerome Dant)
• Shoot The People (Andy Mundy-Castle)
• Skategoat (Van Alpert)

Best Animation

• Bubble Boy (Cameron Carr)
• The 12 Inch Pianist (Lucas Ansel)
• Two Black Boys in Paradise (Baz Sells)

Best Script Supervision (Winning recipient)

• Tapped (Teoman Sayin)

Best Live Scripts (Winning recipients)

• Mailman (Robin Scovill)
• Blood Enough (Saeid Ghasemi)
• The Town (Al Mertens)

Honorary Recipient

• Femi Oyeniran

The Best Actor Award has been renamed in honour of Anthony Adjekum, whose sudden passing last year shocked peers and colleagues across the industry.

Since 2020, the British Urban Film Festival has been a qualifying festival for British short films and British short animation films selected and screened at BUFF. As of 2025, BUFF is one of 86 qualifying festivals (including 31 British) which allow for films to be eligible for a BAFTA film award in the Best British short and/or Best British short animation category. 

This year’s award ceremony will take place on Friday 24th October 2025 at the Genesis Cinema, Stepney Green, London. The event will be hosted by Linda E (This is My House), with guest presenters Lisa Maffia (So Solid Crew) and Producer Teddy Nygh (Rocket Fuel, Pru), plus a special guest appearance by actor Aml Ameen (Rustin, A Man in Full).