2021 BAFTA Nominations Are Here

An overhaul in the voting process brings the Academy’s most diverse list of nominees yet.

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  • Photos courtesy of bafta.org

The nominations for the 2021 BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Film Awards, announced earlier today, mark a welcome change from BAFTA awards of years past. Last year’s #BaftaSoWhite controversy called attention to the lack of racial diversity among the nominated films and pushed the Academy to acknowledge the work that filmmakers and actors of color contributed to the industry. In 2020, no actors of color were nominated in any of the four main acting races (Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor), and no women were nominated in the category of Best Director.

2021 brings the most diverse BAFTA nominations yet, with more than half of the nominees in the acting categories belonging to ethnic minority groups, and a Best Director category in which four of the six nominees are women. Nomadland and Rocks are the most heavily nominated films, with seven nominations each. Films with six nominations include The Father, Mank, Minari, and Promising Young Woman. The diverse full list of nominations, available here, is the result of an overhaul of the voting process this year, which aimed to diversify the voting juries and make the awards more equitable.

British film Rocks received seven nominations, with Bukky Bakray nominated for Best Leading Actress.

Originally set to take place on February 14, the BAFTA Film Awards have been pushed back to April 11, following the Oscars’ lead in altering the award show timeline for the COVID-19 pandemic. However, fans have noted that the British award show did not follow the Oscars in selecting nominations, applauding the BAFTA awards for following their own path and highlighting British films.

The BAFTAs will stream on April 11 on BBC One and BBC One HD. You can also watch online with BBC iPlayer.

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