Four women, including Chloe Zhao and Sarah Gavron, will compete for the Best Director prize at the 2021 British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs).
Zhao’s Nomadland and Gavron’s Rocks lead the nominations for the 2021 ceremony, with seven nominations apiece, in a highly diverse nominations list, with 16 of the 24 acting nominees this year coming from ethnic minority groups.
Zhao, who won best director at the Golden Globes, and Gavron will compete against Shannon Murphy for Babyteeth, Jasmila Zbanic for Quo Vadis Aida?, Thomas Vinterberg for Another Round, and Lee Isaac Chung for Minari for the Best Director BAFTA.
And by contrast to last year’s controversial nominations, when not one actor of colour was nominated in the acting categories, Daniel Kaluuya, the late Chadwick Boseman, Riz Ahmed, Dominique Fishback, Tahar Rahim, and Bukky Bakray are among the 16 nominees from ethnic minority backgrounds in the acting categories.
The nominations were presented by BAFTA chair Krishnendu Majumdar and presented virtually by actors Aisling Bea and Susan Wokoma.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Hall without a live audience on 11 April.
The full list of nominations is as follows:
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
BEST 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
BEST 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
BEST 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
BEST 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
Limbo
Moffie
Rocks
Saint Maud
BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Another Round
Dear Comrades!
Les Miserables
Minari
Quo Vadis, Aida?
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Collective
David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet
The Dissident
My Octopus Teacher
The Social Dilemma
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Onward
Soul
Wolfwalkers
BEST DIRECTOR
Another Round – Thomas Vinterberg
Babyteeth – Shannon Murphy
Minari – Lee Isaac Chung
Nomadland – Chloé Zhao
Quo Vadis, Aida? – Jasmila Zbanic
Rocks – Sarah Gavron
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Another Round
Mank
Promising Young Woman
Rocks
The Trial of the Chicago 7
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Dig
The Father
The Mauritanian
Nomadland
The White Tiger
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Mank
Minari
News of the World
Promising Young Woman
Soul
Best Casting
Calm With Horses
Judas and the Black Messiah
Minari
Promising Young Woman
Rocks
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank
The Mauritanian
News of the World
Nomadland
BEST EDITING
The Father
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Dig
The Father
Mank
News of the World
Rebecca
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Ammonite
The Dig
Emma
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank
BEST MAKE-UP AND HAIR DESIGN
The Dig
Hillbilly Elegy
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank
Pinocchio
BEST SOUND
Greyhound
News of the World
Nomadland
Soul
Sound of Metal
BEST SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
Greyhound
The Midnight Sky
Mulan
The One and Only Ivan
Tenet
BEST BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
The Fire Next Time
The Owl and The Pussycat
The Song of a Lost Boy
BEST BRITISH SHORT FILM
Eyelash
Lizard
Lucky Break
Miss Curvy
The Present
EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
Bukky Bakray
Conrad Khan
Kingsley Ben-Adir
Morfydd Clark
Sope Dirisu.
– Cover Media