Set in Belfast in 2019, the film is a semi-fictional account of the rowdy group’s formation amid a call for more protection of their mother tongue.
After picking up awards at the Sundance and Galway Film Festivals, it was nominated for Best Screenplay at Bifas and Best British Independent Film.
Band members Mo Chara, Moglai Bap and DJ Provai received nominations in the Best Performance by a Leading Role category for playing themselves, while writer-director Rich Peppiatt was nominated for Best Director, the Douglas Hickox Award for Best best debut director and best debut screenwriter.
The film is also nominated in eight craft categories, including Best Casting, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Editing, Best Music Supervision, Best Original Score, Best Production Design and best sound.
Promoters say the film, which also stars Oscar-nominated actor Michael Fassbender, chronicles how fate brought the trio together and how they then went on to “change the sound of Irish music forever”.
Love Lies Bleeding, a romantic thriller directed by Rose Glass and starring Twilight actress Kristen Stewart, follows with 12 nominations.
It is also nominated for Best British Independent Film, as well as Best Screenplay, Best Director for Glass and Best Performance in a Leading Role for Stewart and The Mandalorian actress Katie O’Brien together with eight craft nominations.
Saoirse Ronan was also nominated for Best Lead Actress for her new drama The Outrun, which received a total of nine nominations.
The film about self-discovery and sobriety also received nominations for Best British Independent Film and Best Director for Nora Fingscheid and Best Screenplay for Fingscheid and Amy Liptrot, author of the book on which the film is based.
Elsewhere, Oscar-nominated Irish actor Barry Keoghan received a best supporting actor nomination for his role in Bird, which follows a teenager with a difficult home life who searches for a way to fly free.
The nominations were announced by actresses Mia McKenna-Bruce and Vivian Opara on Tuesday at One Hundred Shoreditch, London
The winners will be announced at the Bifa ceremony at the Roundhouse on Sunday 8 December.