BAFTA Nominations 2021: ‘Nomadland’ & ‘Rocks’ Lead Highly Diverse Field

Nomadland and Rocks lead the diverse list of BAFTA Film nominees for 2021. Scroll down for the nominations in full.

Chloé Zhao and Sarah Gavron’s films scored seven nominations each, including nods for the filmmakers in the best director category.

Nomadland was one of five nominations in the best film category alongside The Father, The Mauritanian, Promising Young Woman and The Trial Of The Chicago 7.

Four films scored six nominations: The Father, Mank, Minari and Promising Young Woman. The Dig and The Mauritanian garnered five nominations each.

The big takeaway this year is how diverse the nominations are. BAFTA faced a backlash one year ago for a lack of diversity among its nominees. The charity made big changes following a seven-month review, including the introduction of a long-list system in a bid to increase viewership of all the submitted films, and increasing all four acting categories and the best director category to six nominees.

After implementing widespread changes to its voting procedures and membership, the results are very different.

In a first for BAFTA, four women have been nominated in the director category, and after all-white acting nominees last year, 16 of the 24 actors announced today are from under-represented groups.

The awards are fresher than previous years, featuring a number of newcomers. Four of the five nominated films in Outstanding Debut are also nominated across other categories, and this year first-time nominees account for four of the six nominated directors and 21 of the 24 nominees in the performance categories.

There is also a strong showing from British films, three of which feature in the best film category. Rocks, The Father, Promising Young Woman and The Dig are among the most-nominated movies. The awards have been criticized in the past for not being British enough.

This year also saw the second-highest number of films entered for the awards at 258, nine fewer than last year.

In sharp contrast to last year’s online furore, there has been an immediately positive response to the nominations. Susanna White, Bafta-winning director and Vice-Chair of Directors UK, said: “Today’s BAFTA film nominations are really refreshing; for the first time they feel like a true meritocracy. In contrast to what we have seen in the past, this list isn’t about films that have had the most money spent on their campaigns – this is about the BAFTA membership recognising craft and talent across the board.”

However, with many big U.S. movies held back due to Covid and voters only able to watch films at home, the pandemic is likely to have played a part in the vastly different makeup of the nominees this year. Next year should offer a better idea of how lasting voting change will be.

The awards themselves will be held virtually on Sunday, April 11. Two shows will be broadcast virtually from London’s Royal Albert Hall across that weekend. The first show, celebrating the craft of film, will be broadcast on Saturday, April 10 on BBC Two and BBC Two HD. The show on Sunday, April 11 will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC One HD. Both programs will also be broadcast in major territories around the world.

Krishnendu Majumdar, Chair of BAFTA, commented: “This year’s nominations showcase and celebrate the remarkable range of performances and nominees behind the camera from 50 films and we’re delighted to recognise such high-quality work. We are also delighted to see the strength of British film shine through in all categories. After last year’s nominations, we started the BAFTA Review process with the intention of levelling the playing field and introduced​ a range of measures to ensure that all entered films were seen by our members and judged on merit. We hope today you can see some of those changes reflected in the breadth and depth of those nominated and we congratulate all our nominees.”

Amanda Berry, CEO of BAFTA, said: “The last year has seen the Covid-19 pandemic impact everyone, and the film industry is no exception. I would like to thank all those who have supported us and enabled BAFTA to continue to celebrate the very best work in film, from our members who embraced the changes we made to the voting process to the distributors for ensuring that many more films were available for online viewing. Film has always held an essential place in our culture but I think we can all agree that it has been even more important during this time. I very much look forward to celebrating the incredible talent of all our nominees across on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 April.”

EE BRITISH ACADEMY FILM AWARDS IN 2021

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