In what is shaping up to be a historic year for the BAFTA Film Awards — the first edition since the org’s groundbreaking diversity review and one year on from the #BAFTAsSoWhite scandal — Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland” and Sarah Gavron’s “Rocks” lead the nominations with seven nods each.
“Nomadland” is nominated for best film as well as best director, in addition to nominations in the adapted screenplay, leading actress, cinematography, editing and sound categories.
Meanwhile, “Rocks” is up for outstanding British film, as well as outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer. The film is also nominated for best director, original screenplay, leading actress, supporting actress and casting.
Following closely behind with six nominations are “The Father,” “Mank,” “Minari” and “Promising Young Woman,” while “The Dig” and “The Mauritanian” picked up five nods.
Notably, in what serves as a first for BAFTA, four women have been nominated in the director category — a drastic shift from last year’s all-male directing category. Meanwhile, three of the nominated directors are also up for best film not in the English language.
This year’s awards will take place across a whole weekend, with two separate shows airing on April 10 and 11, broadcast virtually out of London’s Royal Albert Hall. The first show will focus on the craft awards and air on BBC Two, while the main performance prizes will be handed out in a BBC One broadcast on the Sunday.
Overall, a total of 50 films received nominations for the 2021 awards, up from 39 films last year. A push to support new talent is also reflected in the nominations, with four of the five nominated films in outstanding debut also nominated across other categories.
This year, first-time nominees account for four of the six nominated directors and 21 of the 24 nominees in the performance categories.
Lead actress nominees include Bukky Bakray (“Rocks”), Radha Blank (“The Forty-Year-Old Version”), Vanessa Kirby (“Pieces of a Woman”), Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”), Wunmi Mosaku (“His House”) and Alfre Woodard (“Clemency”).
Lead actor nominees are 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”) and Tahar Rahim (“The Mauritanian”).
Meanwhile, short film nominees include “Eyelash,” “Lizard,” “Lucky Break,” “Miss Curvy,” “The Present,” “The Fire Next Time,” “The Owl and the Pussycat” and “The Song of a Lost Boy.”
BAFTA last week revealed its Rising Star nominees. This year’s group includes British actors Bukky Bakray, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Morfydd Clark, Ṣọpẹ́ Dirisu and Conrad Khan.
The nominations were announced by Aisling Bea and Susan Wokoma at the Royal Albert Hall in London. (A complete list of nominations follows the article below. Check out Variety’s analysis of the nominations and their impact on the Oscars here.)
A sea change for BAFTA
The 2020 BAFTA Film Awards marked a dark moment for the org, which was criticized for its roster of all-white acting nominations. In response, BAFTA conducted a wide-ranging seven-month review of its membership and awards voting procedures, and implemented 120 changes from September onwards.
The changes included the expansion of the outstanding British film category to 10 nominations; a key longlisting round across all categories, revealed Feb. 4, that aims to level the playing field in acting and directing in particular; and the introduction of 1,000 new members from underrepresented groups. There are also nominating juries put in place for the acting and directing categories to help whittle the longlists down to the final nominations.
However, Pippa Harris, deputy chair of BAFTA, underlines to Variety that there were “no quotas in place” and “these are not nominations that were designed in any way.”
“These are the results of allowing films to be seen on a level playing field,” says Harris. “And allowing films that sometimes get overlooked in a normal awards season to be seen by the membership and to be recognized and celebrated.”
Krishnendu Majumdar, chair of BAFTA, notes that the org counted 150,000 views on BAFTA View, the screening portal for members — five times more than last year’s viewership. “We made all members watch a randomized batch of 15 films for the first round, which meant that every movie — and we had 259 entries this year — was watched roughly 300-400 times. That’s never happened before.”
The executives credit the new longlisting round for the increased representation across the board, particularly across the acting and directing categories. “By having this third round in the middle, members get a chance to look at a longlist of films, so you’re giving prominence to that longlist in every category, and that’s encouraged people to reach out and watch films they wouldn’t have necessarily watched in a normal year,” said Harris.
2021 BAFTA Film Award nominees:
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