BAFTA film awards 2021 nominees announced, with huge rise in diverse talent featured

A notably diverse list of nominations for the UK’s prestigious BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) awards were announced Tuesday following last year’s controversy over a lack of representation.

More than half of the 24 nominees in the acting categories are from ethnic minority backgrounds, including Daniel Kaluuya for “Judas and the Black Messiah” and Bukky Bakray for “Rocks.”

Four women were nominated in the director category, including Chloé Zhao for “Nomadland,” not long after she became the first woman of Asian descent and second woman ever to win the same award at this year’s Golden Globes.

Last year’s BAFTA nominations were heavily criticized, with BAFTA bosses acknowledging the “infuriating” lack of diversity. Every person shortlisted for an acting award in 2020 was White, while the lack of gender diversity among nominees was also stark.

While accepting his award for best leading actor for “Joker” at the 2020 awards ceremony, Joaquin Phoenix called out the “system of oppression” in the film industry.

“I feel conflicted because so many of my fellow actors that are deserving don’t have that same privilege. I think that we send a very clear message to people of color that you’re not welcome here,” Phoenix said.

BAFTA announced in September some 120 “wide-ranging changes” to address a lack of diversity in the awards, including changes to its membership and voting process. The changes, hailed by chair Krishnendu Majumdar as “a watershed moment” in the academy’s history, came after a seven-month review following the lack of diversity in last year’s nominations.

“Nomadland” and “Rocks” received the most nominations this year with seven apiece, while “The Father”, “Mank”, “Minari” and “Promising Young Woman” received six each.

BAFTA winners awards will be announced on Sunday, April 11.

BAFTA Film Awards 2021 nominations

Best Film

• “The Father”
• “The Mauritanian”
• “Nomadland”
• “Promising Young Woman”
• “The Trial of the Chicago 7”

Outstanding British Film

• “Calm With Horses”
• “The Dig”
• “The Father”
• “His House”
• “Limbo”
• “The Mauritanian”
• “Mogul Mowgli”
• “Promising Young Woman”
• “Rocks”
• “Saint Maud”

Director

• Thomas Vinterberg (“Another Round”)
• Shannon Murphy (“Babyteeth”)
• Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”)
• Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”)
• Jasmila Žbanić (“Quo Vadis, Aida?”)
• Sarah Gavron (“Rocks”)

Original Screenplay

• “Another Round”
• “Mank”
• “Promising Young Woman”
• “Rocks”
• “The Trial of the Chicago 7”

Adapted Screenplay

• “The Dig”
• “The Father”
• “The Mauritanian”
• “Nomadland”
• “The White Tiger”

Leading Actress

• Bukky Bakray (“Rocks”)
• Radha Blank (“The Forty-Year-Old Version”)
• Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”)
• Vanessa Kirby (“Pieces of a Woman”)
• 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”)

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer

• Remi Weekes (“His House”)
• Ben Sharrock, Irune Gurtubai (“Limbo”)
• Jack Sidey (“Moffie”)
• Theresa Ikoko, Claire Wilson (“Rocks”)
• Rose Glass, Oliver Kassman (“Saint Maud”)

Film not in English Language

• Thomas Vinterberg, Sisse Graum Jørgensen (“Another Round”)
• Andrei Konchalovsky, Alisher Usmanov (“Dear Comrades!”)
• Ladj Ly (“Les Misérables”)
• Lee Isaac Chung, Christina Oh (“Minari”)
• Jasmila Žbanić, Damir Ibrahimovich (“Quo Vadis, Aida?”)

Documentary

• Alexander Nanau (“Collective”)
• Alastair Fothergill, Jonnie Hughes, Keith Scholey (“David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet”)
• Bryan Fogel, Thor Halvorssen (“The Dissident”)
• Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed, Craig Foster (“My Octopus Teacher”)
• eff Orlowski, Larissa Rhodes (“The Social Dilemma”)

Animated Film

• Dan Scanlon, Kori Rae (“Onward”)
• Pete Docter, Dana Murray (“Soul”)
• Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Paul Young (“Wolfwalkers”)

Original Score

• Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross (“Mank”)
• Emile Mosseri (“Minari”)
• James Newton Howard (“News of the World”)
• Anthony Willis (“Promising Young Woman”)
• Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross (“Soul”)

Casting

• Shaheen Baig (“Calm with Horses”)
• Alexa L. Fogel (“Judas and the Black Messiah”)
• Julia Kim (“Minari”)
• Lindsay Graham Ahanonu, Mary Vernieu (“Promising Young Woman”)
• Lucy Pardee (“Rocks”)

Cinematography

• Sean Bobbitt (“Judas and the Black Messiah”)
• Erik Messerschmidt (“Mank”)
• Alwin H. Küchler (“The Mauritanian”)
• Dariusz Wolski (“News of the World”)
• Joshua James Richards (“Nomadland”)

Editing

• Yorgos Lamprinos (“The Father”)
• Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”)
• Frédéric Thoraval (“Prominsg Young Woman”)
• Mikkel E.G. Nielsen (“Sound of Metal”)
• Alan Baumgarten (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”)

Production Design

• Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana Macdonald (“The Dig”)
• Peter Francis, Cathy Featherstone (“The Father”)
• Donald Graham Burt, Jan Pascale (“Mank”)
• David Crank, Elizabeth Keenan (“News of the World”)
• Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer (“Rebecca”)