London romcom Rye Lane leads British independent film awards nominations

Also dominating are Charlotte Regan’s Scrapper and Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers, with the winners to be announced in December

Rye Lane, the London-set romcom starring Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson, has emerged as the frontrunner in the British independent film awards (Bifa), hoovering up 16 nominations, including best British independent film, best director for Raine Allen-Miller, and best joint lead performance.

Released in March after a successful premiere at the Sundance film festival, Rye Lane has attracted admiring reviews; the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw said it had “amiable, upbeat energy”, while Mark Kermode in the Observer wrote that the film would leave “a smile on your face, a spring in your step”. Named for the street in the south London district of Peckham, Rye Lane also attracted two nominations for Allen-Miller (best director and best debut director) as well as for its screenplay.