Last year, in the wake of a much-deserved pillorying about its very white, very male membership, the Baftas engaged in a seven-month review aimed at improving what could be generously summed up as a shitty record on diversity, which reached its nadir in 2020 when not one person of colour was nominated in any acting category.
Well, the self-examination worked. The 2021 Bafta nominations are perhaps the most diverse we've ever seen at a major awards ceremony, with 16 of the 24 acting nominees hailing from minority ethnic backgrounds, as well as four women nominated for best director. Golden Globes, take note.
Granted, it's a weird year. Of the Best Film nominees, only one has actually been released in the UK – Netflix's bang average The Trial of the Chicago Seven. With big studio pictures either shifted to the back end of the year, or dropped from the release schedule completely, there's been more space for voices that are too often sidelined. The acid test of the new approach will come next year, when things are (hopefully) back to normal.
Still, even if this is a one-off, it shows that change works. Ahead of this year's nominations the Baftas announced a slew of new processes aimed at improving the visibility of diverse talent, like long-lists to offer extra exposure to the nominated films, as well as expanding the number of nominees in the acting and director categories to create more space at the table.
What's exciting about this approach is that it doesn't just include diverse voices for diversity's sake – aka the straw man accusation that defenders of the status quo roll out whenever diversity initiatives are announced. Instead, it aims to dismantle some of the structural inequities that lead to brilliant films from non-white, non-male voices being left on the margins. The Oscars would do well to try something similar.
British film, which has always been oddly unrecognised considering these awards are run by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, is strongly represented too, with multiple homegrown nominees in all the acting, writing and directing categories.
Yes, there are some odd snubs and omissions (Emerald Fennell can feel hard done by that Promising Young Woman has a best film nod, but there's nothing for her direction, and it's still mind-boggling that Aaron Sorkin's courtroom drama-by-numbers is up for best film but Rose Glass's revolutionary horror St Maud is not) but overall it seems like – whisper it – this year the Baftas might have actually got it right.
The 2021 Bafta Nominations
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 and 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
