BAFTA Long Lists

Each year the BAFTA longlists remind us that awards voters have extremely narrow vieweing habits and blind spots that are practically extend to their peripheral vision. We're SOOO glad Oscar doesn't do this winnowing in their major categories since otherwise we'd have to give us so many dreams that our favourites justmissed each year, rather than not being considered at all for their brilliance.

BAFTA voters have yet to decide on the nominations. Those are not announced until March 9th but this is the list each category will draw from so hundreds of options are now ineligible. The long lists are stunningly messy. They're after the jump if you dare... 

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Trust BAFTA to make this bizarre awards season even crazier!

BAFTA has made a strange decision. Despite more than enough movies to justify an awards season (as you can see from the numerous critics awards we've already witnessed... many of which weren't considering January/February releases like Oscar and the Globes are), BAFTA now just opened to the window for even more films to play. They're saying that as long as you already had a release date planned before April 9th in the UK, you can be eligible for their current award season and just delay your actual release until any point in 2021. 

This is an administrative nightmare. Or, at least it's a nightmare for those of us who enjoy things like calendars, time, seasons, and Things That Make Sense.

It also begs the question of what groups like the Globes, SAG, BAFTA, and the Academy are going to do for next year's awards (do all of these awards bodies think the world is going to end in 2021)...

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BAFTA Winners

BAFTA came and went with the almost all of the Oscar frontrunners crowned. The only real surprise was Parasite taking Best Original Screenplay rather than a Tarantino victory though that shouldn't be a surprise given the Korean hits ingenious construction and terrific dialogue. After the jump the winners list in some speeches...

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BAFTA lacks diversity (in all sorts of ways) and goes all in on "Joker"

by Nathaniel R

I've made it no secret over the years that I think BAFTA is the worst of the major awards organizations. They always appear to have watched an extremely limited pool of films (even less than Oscar's tunnel vision screener stack) and they regularly ignore British fare unless it's tipped to be hot at the Oscars (like 1917). This year is no different. They threw all their weight behind Joker (an astounding 11 nominations) and three of the films which feel like possibilities to win the Oscar for Best Picture: The Irishman, Once Upon a Time..., and 1917 (their one UK-produced love). Those four movies handily dominated the nomination count.

We also have to call bulls*** on BAFTA executives blaming the film industry for their lack of diverse nominations this year. Their acting nominees are all white this year and their directing nominees all male. They've responded saying:

"We'd have liked to have seen more diversity in the nominations, it does continue to be an industry-wide issue. I think more films need to be made, and entered, giving people a chance to see them. We'd absolutely like to see more diversity, but I also don't want to take away from those celebrating today."

As you all know, since I've been chastised for it before, I'm not always happy about where the complaints about diversity are focused. In some years the Oscar voters have been (I feel) wrongly targeted when there just weren't a lot of options for them. This year however there is no excuse as there are multiple lauded actors of color from films like Us, Dolemite is My Name, Waves, The Farewell, Luce, Harriet, Hustlers, and Parasite. And it's also been a great year for female directors given Little Women, Hustlers, Atlantics,A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, and The Farewell.

The full list of nominations with commentary are after the jump...

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David Rubin elected President of AMPAS

Casting director David Rubin has been elected the new President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. It's a prestigious position but not without dozens upon dozens of high-profile headaches. Nobody is ever pleased with the Oscars which we've always taken as a sign of their continued relevance; people wouldn't constantly be complaining about the institution if they didn't care about it! 

This will mark the first time a Casting Director has ever served as AMPAS president. The news of Rubin's election came in the same 24 hours that BAFTA announced that they would be adding a Casting category to their awards which begs the following oft asked question... Is there ever going to be an Oscar category for Achievement in Casting?

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