In a historic year for the awards ceremony, the 2021 edition of the British Academy and Television Awards (BAFTAs) has announced the most diverse set of nominations the ceremony has ever seen.
This is the first edition of the BAFTA awards since the organisation’s groundbreaking diversity review, proving necessary change can be implemented quickly and successfully.
The review pledged to introduce more underrepresented members into the voting body to encourage greater diversity in the awards longlisting. After the 2020 backlash which resulted in the #BAFTAsSoWhite scandal, it is refreshing to see BAFTA push towards a more inclusive awards ceremony that moves away from the majority white talent it has celebrated in previous years. Alongside diversity, the BAFTA shortlist nominations this year push an incredible wealth of breakthrough talent, with 21 of the 24 nominees being first-time nominees in the performance categories and four of the six directors who have been nominated also being new to the BAFTA ceremony.
Sarah Gavron’s Rocks follows through from its success at the BIFAs where it won five awards, picking up an astounding seven nominations alongside Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland. As a British film with a strongly diverse cast, Gavron’s Rocks celebrates British talent through its nominations for the celebrated ‘Outstanding British Film’ category alongside many more. After winning ‘Best Motion Picture – Drama’ and ‘Best Director’ at the 78th Golden Globe Awards, it’s no surprise Zhao has gained a wealth of nominations at the BAFTA ceremony, with nominations for ‘Best Director’ again. Celebrating women is another way this year’s BAFTAs have got it right, with four women nominated in the Best Director category—a change from the 2020 nominees being all male.
Check out the full list of BAFTA nominees below.
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
Read more: ‘Mogul Mowgli’ Actor Alyy Khan On Identity And Diaspora
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
CONRAD KAHN
KINGSLEY BEN-ADIR
MORFYDD CLARK
ṢỌPẸ DÌRÍSÙ
The 2021 BAFTA Awards will be aired on 10 April (BBC One, main performance awards) and 11 April (BBC Two, craft awards) from London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Words by Katie Evans
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