A surprising BAFTA nomination list

by Nathaniel R

Nomadland and Rocks lead the nominations at the BAFTA Film Awards this year with 7 nominations each. The Father, Mank, Minari, and Promising Young Woman were right on their heels with 6 nominations each (though Mank and Minari both missed key top categories). After years of criticism over BAFTA's lack of diversity they made 120 rule changes (!) and, coupled with a strong year for films from and starring ethnic minorities or women, two thirds of the acting nominations went to people of color and the majority of the directing nominations went to women.

We've outlined the complex changes they made around the Best Director category (which created quite a surprising result) but in general it's easiest to think of what BAFTA did as adding what amounts to Oscar's International Feature "Executive Committee" to the longlist process in multiple categories to keep an eye on diversity and fix any glaring ommissions before the final nominations vote.

Oscar voters turn in their nomination ballots tomorrow (if they haven't already) so this won't be influential per se but it's still interesting. Especially since the nominations are so very different than what the Oscars will end up being (due to different eligibility lists and now different rules, too)...

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Showbiz History: Gyllenhaal's first win, The Witch's release

5 random things that happened on this day, February 19th, in history (as it relates to showbiz)...

1942 /1945 Two historic and tragic days in the history of Japan & US relations. In '42 President FDR ordered Japanese-Americans into internment camps. This shameful moment is rarely dramatized in English-language movies outside of documentaries (surely because Hollywood doesn't love looking at America's own sins) though its shown up in a few like Go For Broke (1951) about Japanese-Americans serving in the US Army at the time and 1990's Come See the Paradise about an interracial family during the war. Later in '45 the US marines invasion of Iwo Jima begins. We recently saw it dramatized, from the Japanese perspective, in Clint Eastwood's Best Picture nominee Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)...

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Showbiz History: "It" girls and Scarlett Johansson's first big win

Happy President's Day. Aren't you glad an actual adult is in the White House again? Anyway, here are 5 random things that happened on this day, February 15th, in showbiz history

1927 "It" starring Clara Bow is released. Did it create the lingo of "It girl" like Gaslight spawned the term "gaslighting"? I don't know. I'm not a linguistic historian. If you are, do tell... 

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Showbiz History: Tom & Jerry's debut, BAFTA nights, and wild Laura Dern

7 random things that happened today, February 10th, in showbiz history...

1940 The first Tom & Jerry cartoon, Puss Gets the Boot debuts. Tom & Jerry would go on to become major stars of the short film format and super stars of Oscar's animated short category! The series received 13 nominations (starting with Puss Gets the Boots) and 7 wins. 

1972 David Bowie debuts his character Ziggy Stardust at a London pub...

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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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