There are four major bellwethers for the Academy Awards. The SAG Awards, the PGA Awards, the DGA Awards, and, increasingly, the BAFTA Awards. The Academy, which governs the Oscars, is made up primarily of the aforementioned guilds. Over the past decade, however, there has been more overlap in membership between AMPAS and its British counterpart than decades past. That’s why today’s announcement of the 2021 BAFTA Film Awards was so provocative.
READ MORE: “Nomadland,” “Minari” and “I May Destroy You” among 2021 PGA Awards nominees [Full List]
“Nomadland” and “Rocks” led all films with seven nominations. “Minari,” “Mank,” “The Father” and “Promising Young Woman” followed with six each. That being said, there were a ton of surprises.
This year, in order to overcome frustrations with a lack of diversity, BAFTA used a combination of paneled juries and member votes for the Directing and Acting categories. Strangely, that saw some expected Oscar nominees such as Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”), Olivia Colman (“The Father”), and Gary Oldman (“Mank”) not make the cut. In contrast, a number of contenders thought to be on the outside looking in such as Dominique Fishback (“Judas and the Black Messiah”), Tahar Rahim (“The Mauritanian”), and Clark Peters (“Da 5 Bloods”) earned nominations.
One category which was based solely on member votes, however, was Best Film. And the five nominees included “Nomadland,” “Promising Young Woman,” “The Father” (snubbed by the PGA Awards just yesterday), “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (which landed just 3 BAFTA nods overall) and, in a major surprise, “The Mauritanian.” Kevin Macdonald’s true story drama received mixed reviews but landed five nominations overall. The fact it was a BBC Films co-production also helped in its campaign, but no one could have seen it knocking out “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Judas and the Black Messiah” or “One Night in Miami…” (which earned just one nomination).
For those wondering if “Minari” was snubbed for Best Film, technically the answer is “yes.” However, this has been known since the BAFTA Longlists were revealed on Feb. 4. In theory, it might have made the cut if BAFTA did away with the preliminary voting system
For those hoping to truly read the Oscar tea leaves, if possible, from this year’s BAFTA nominations, look no further than the success of “Another Round.” As expected, it landed a Film Not In The English Language nod, but also made the Director (Thomas Vinterberg), Original Screenplay and Lead Actor (Mads Mikkelsen) cut.
Earlier, BAFTA revealed the nominees for its annual Rising Star Award voted on by the public at large. This year’s class includes Bukky Bakray (“Rocks”), Conrad Khan (“County Lines”), Kingsley Ben-Adir (“One Night In Miami…”), Moryfdd Clark (“Saint Maud”), and Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù (“His House”). Previous winners include James McAvoy, Kristen Stewart, Tom Hardy, John Boyega, Tom Holland, and Daniel Kaluuya.
READ MORE: Chloe Zhao Says ‘The Revenant’ Is Her ‘Eternals’ Inspiration [Interview]
The 2021 BAFTA Awards will be held on Sunday, April 11 and, as always, tape-delayed for even those in the UK.
The complete list of this year’s nominees are as follows:
BEST FILM
THE FATHER Philippe Carcassonne, Jean-Louis Livi, David Parfitt
THE MAURITANIAN TBC
NOMADLAND Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Chloé Zhao
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Ben Browning, Emerald Fennell, Ashley Fox, Josey McNamara
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 Stuart Besser, Marc Platt
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
CALM WITH HORSES Nick Rowland, Daniel Emmerson, Joe Murtagh
THE DIG Simon Stone, Gabrielle Tana, Moira Buffini
THE FATHER Florian Zeller, Philippe Carcassone, Jean-Louis Livi, David Parfitt, Christopher Hampton
HIS HOUSE Remi Weekes, Martin Gentles, Edward Kings, Roy Lee
LIMBO Ben Sharrock, Irune Gurtubai, Angus Lamont
THE MAURITANIAN Kevin Macdonald, Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani, M.B. Traven
MOGUL MOWGLI Bassam Tariq, Riz Ahmed, Thomas Benski, Bennett McGhee
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Emerald Fennell, Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Josey McNamara
ROCKS Sarah Gavron, Ameenah Ayub Allen, Faye Ward, Theresa Ikoko, Claire Wilson
SAINT MAUD Rose Glass, Andrea Cornwell, Oliver Kassman
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
HIS HOUSE Remi Weekes (Writer/Director)
LIMBO Ben Sharrock (Writer/Director), Irune Gurtubai (Producer) [also produced by Angus Lamont]
MOFFIE Jack Sidey (Writer/Producer) [also written by Oliver Hermanus and produced by Eric Abraham]
ROCKS Theresa Ikoko, Claire Wilson (Writers)
SAINT MAUD Rose Glass (Writer/Director), Oliver Kassman (Producer) [also produced by Andrea Cornwell]
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
ANOTHER ROUND Thomas Vinterberg, Sisse Graum Jørgensen
DEAR COMRADES! Andrei Konchalovsky, Alisher Usmanov
LES MISÉRABLES Ladj Ly
MINARI Lee Isaac Chung, Christina Oh
QUO VADIS, AIDA? Jasmila Žbanić, Damir Ibrahimovich
DOCUMENTARY
COLLECTIVE Alexander Nanau
DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: A LIFE ON OUR PLANET Alastair Fothergill, Jonnie Hughes, Keith Scholey
THE DISSIDENT Bryan Fogel, Thor Halvorssen
MY OCTOPUS TEACHER Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed, Craig Foster
THE SOCIAL DILEMMA Jeff Orlowski, Larissa Rhodes
ANIMATED FILM
ONWARD Dan Scanlon, Kori Rae
SOUL Pete Docter, Dana Murray
WOLFWALKERS Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Paul Young
DIRECTOR
ANOTHER ROUND Thomas Vinterberg
BABYTEETH Shannon Murphy
MINARI Lee Isaac Chung
NOMADLAND Chloé Zhao
QUO VADIS, AIDA? Jasmila Žbanić
ROCKS Sarah Gavron
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
ANOTHER ROUND Tobias Lindholm, Thomas Vinterberg
MANK Jack Fincher
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Emerald Fennell
ROCKS Theresa Ikoko, Claire Wilson
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 Aaron Sorkin
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
THE DIG Moira Buffini
THE FATHER Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller
THE MAURITANIAN Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani, M.B. Traven
NOMADLAND Chloé Zhao
THE WHITE TIGER Ramin Bahrani
LEADING ACTRESS
BUKKY BAKRAY Rocks
RADHA BLANK The Forty-Year-Old Version
VANESSA KIRBY Pieces of a Woman
FRANCES McDORMAND Nomadland
WUNMI MOSAKU His House
ALFRE WOODARD Clemency
LEADING ACTOR
RIZ AHMED Sound of Metal
CHADWICK BOSEMAN Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
ADARSH GOURAV The White Tiger
ANTHONY HOPKINS The Father
MADS MIKKELSEN Another Round
TAHAR RAHIM The Mauritanian
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
NIAMH ALGAR Calm With Horses
KOSAR ALI Rocks
MARIA BAKALOVA Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
DOMINIQUE FISHBACK Judas and the Black Messiah
ASHLEY MADEKWE County Lines
YUH-JUNG YOUN Minari
SUPPORTING ACTOR
DANIEL KALUUYA Judas and the Black Messiah
BARRY KEOGHAN Calm With Horses
ALAN KIM Minari
LESLIE ODOM JR. One Night in Miami…
CLARKE PETERS Da 5 Bloods
PAUL RACI Sound of Metal
ORIGINAL SCORE
MANK Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
MINARI Emile Mosseri
NEWS OF THE WORLD James Newton Howard
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Anthony Willis
SOUL Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
CASTING
CALM WITH HORSES Shaheen Baig
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH Alexa L. Fogel
MINARI Julia Kim
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Lindsay Graham Ahanonu, Mary Vernieu
ROCKS Lucy Pardee
CINEMATOGRAPHY
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH Sean Bobbitt
MANK Erik Messerschmidt
THE MAURITANIAN Alwin H. Küchler
NEWS OF THE WORLD Dariusz Wolski
NOMADLAND Joshua James Richards
EDITING
THE FATHER Yorgos Lamprinos
NOMADLAND Chloé Zhao
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Frédéric Thoraval
SOUND OF METAL Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 Alan Baumgarten
PRODUCTION DESIGN
THE DIG Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana Macdonald
THE FATHER Peter Francis, Cathy Featherstone
MANK Donald Graham Burt, Jan Pascale
NEWS OF THE WORLD David Crank, Elizabeth Keenan
REBECCA Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
COSTUME DESIGN
AMMONITE Michael O’Connor
THE DIG Alice Babidge
EMMA. Alexandra Byrne
MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM Ann Roth
MANK Trish Summerville
MAKE UP & HAIR
THE DIG Jenny Shircore
HILLBILLY ELEGY Patricia Dehaney, Eryn Krueger Mekash, Matthew Mungle
MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM Matiki Anoff, Larry M. Cherry, Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal
MANK Kimberley Spiteri, Gigi Williams
PINOCCHIO Mark Coulier
SOUND
GREYHOUND TBC
NEWS OF THE WORLD Michael Fentum, William Miller, Mike Prestwood Smith, John Pritchett, Oliver Tarney
NOMADLAND Sergio Diaz, Zach Seivers, M. Wolf Snyder
SOUL Coya Elliott, Ren Klyce, David Parker
SOUND OF METAL Jaime Baksht, Nicolas Becker, Phillip Bladh, Carlos Cortés, Michelle Couttolenc
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
GREYHOUND Pete Bebb, Nathan McGuinness, Sebastian von Overheidt
THE MIDNIGHT SKY Matt Kasmir, Chris Lawrence, David Watkins
MULAN Sean Faden, Steve Ingram, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury
THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN Santiago Colomo Martinez, Nick Davis, Greg Fisher
TENET Scott Fisher, Andrew Jackson, Andrew Lockley
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
THE FIRE NEXT TIME Renaldho Pelle, Yanling Wang, Kerry Jade Kolbe
THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT Mole Hill, Laura Duncalf
THE SONG OF A LOST BOY Daniel Quirke, Jamie MacDonald, Brid Arnstein
BRITISH SHORT FILM
EYELASH Jesse Lewis Reece, Ike Newman
LIZARD Akinola Davies, Rachel Dargavel, Wale Davies
LUCKY BREAK John Addis, Rami Sarras Pantoja
MISS CURVY Ghada Eldemellawy
THE PRESENT Farah Nabulsi
EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
BUKKY BAKRAY
KINGSLEY BEN-ADIR
MORFYDD CLARK
ṢỌPẸ DÌRÍSÙ
CONRAD KHAN
