BAFTA Awards: Everything you need to know ahead of tonight’s ceremony

It’s going to be a largely virtual ceremony this year, and BAFTA will be pulling out all the stops to celebrate the resilience of the film industry during the pandemic.

While nominees will accept awards online, presenters will appear in person at the Royal Albert Hall, with Hugh Grant, Tom Hiddleston, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Cynthia Erivo and Richard E Grant among the stars dishing out the gongs.

Actresses Rose Byrne, Andra Day, Anna Kendrick and Renee Zellweger will also appear from a studio in Los Angeles.

Hugh Grant says he realised he was unwell when he could not smell anything
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Hugh Grant is one of the stars set to present an award from the Royal Albert Hall, while 2020 winner Renee Zellweger (below in AP photo) will appear from LA
Renee Zellweger poses for photographers at the BAFTA awards in London in 2020. Pic: AP

Prince William, who is president of BAFTA, had been due to appear virtually to deliver a speech on how the film industry has coped during a year of lockdowns due to the COVID-19 crisis. However, this was withdrawn following the death of his grandfather Prince Philip, who was the organisation’s first president, on Friday.

BAFTA said in a statement: “We are deeply saddened by the death of His Royal Highness Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, whose close association with the academy spanned over 60 years.”

Viewers will be able to watch the ceremony this evening on BBC One – and you can keep up with all the action and get our thoughts on the winners in our Sky News live blog online later this afternoon from around 5pm.

Nomadland, which stars Oscar-winner Frances McDormand as a woman travelling in a van on a journey through the American West, and British coming-of-age story Rocks lead the way for this year’s nominations with seven each – their filmmakers among a record four women shortlisted for best director.

More from Bafta

The shortlist for the big award, for best film, features The Father, The Mauritanian, Promising Young Woman and The Trial Of The Chicago 7, as well as Nomadland.

Awards for some of the creative categories – as well as a special outstanding British contribution to cinema prize for Noel Clarke – were handed out on Saturday, with the remaining 17 gongs set to be presented at the main show, hosted by Dermot O’Leary and Edith Bowman, later tonight.

Prince William is campaigning for climate change
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BAFTA president Prince William withdrew his pre-recorded speeches for the event following the death of Prince Philip

Director Ang Lee, best known for films including Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Life Of Pi, is set to be honoured with the BAFTA Fellowship, and the ceremony will also feature performances by former One Direction star Liam Payne, who will appear alongside his augmented reality avatar, Celeste, and Odom Jr and Corinne Bailey Rae.

The programme will also feature exclusive footage from upcoming films due to be released in cinemas later this year.

In the acting categories, following criticism over diversity in 2020 and previous years, the majority of the 24 nominees are from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups, including British stars Riz Ahmed, Wunmi Mosaku and Daniel Kaluuya.

As expected, there is a posthumous nomination for the late Chadwick Boseman, who died of cancer in August, in the leading actor category, for his role as an ambitious trumpeter in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

Chadwick Boseman's final screen performance in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Pic: Netflix
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Chadwick Boseman has been nominated for his final screen performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Pic: Netflix

And in the history-making best director category, the other female directors nominated alongside Rocks’ Sarah Gavron and Nomadland’s Chloe Zhao, are Shannon Murphy (Babyteeth) and Jasmila Zbanic (Quo Vadis, Aida?), with Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round) and Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) also in the running.

The nominees for the EE Rising Star Award for up-and-coming talent are Rocks’ Bukky Bakray, One Night In Miami’s Kingsley Ben-Adir, Saint Maud’s Morfydd Clark and His House’s Sope Dirisu on the shortlist.

The ceremony will air at 7pm on BBC One – scroll down for all the nominees

Riz Ahmed and Paul Raci in Sound Of Metal. Pic: Amazon Studios
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Riz Ahmed (L) and Paul Raci (R) are both nominated for their performances in Sound Of Metal. Pic: Amazon Studios

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

Another Round – Thomas Vinterberg
Babyteeth – Shannon Murphy
Minari – Lee Isaac Chung
Nomadland – Chloe Zhao
Quo Vadis, Aida? – Jasmila Zbanic
Rocks – Sarah Gavron

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 BosemanMa 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

His House – Remi Weekes (writer/director)
Limbo – Ben Sharrock (writer/director), Irune Gurtubai (producer)
Moffie – Jack Sidey (writer/producer)
Rocks – Theresa Ikoko, Claire Wilson (writers)
Saint Maud – Rose Glass (writer/director), Oliver Kassman (producer)

Film Not in the English Language

Another Round
Dear Comrades!
Les Miserables
Minari
Quo Vadis, Aida?

Documentary

Collective
David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet
The Dissident
My Octopus Teacher
The Social Dilemma

Animated Film

Onward
Soul
Wolfwalkers

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, MB Traven
Nomadland – Chloé Zhao
The White Tiger – Ramin Bahrani

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

Cinematography

Judas And The Black Messiah – Sean Bobbitt
Mank – Erik Messerschmidt
The Mauritanian – Alwin H Kuchler
News Of The World – Dariusz Wolski
Nomadland – Joshua James Richards

Editing

The Father – Yorgos Lamprinos
Nomadland – Chloe Zhao
Promising Young Woman – Frederic Thoraval
Sound Of Metal – Mikkel EG Nielsen
The Trial Of The Chicago 7 – Alan Baumgarten

EE Rising Star Award

Bukky Bakray
Kingsley Ben-Adir
Morfydd Clark
Sope Dirisu

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