By Jill Lawless
LONDON (AP) --Gig-economy Western “Nomadland” won four prizes including best picture on Sunday at the British Academy Film Awards, which were handed out during a pandemic-curbed ceremony that recognized a diverse array of screen talent.
“Nomadland” filmmaker Chloe Zhao became only the second woman, and the first woman of color, to win the BAFTA for best director, and star Frances McDormand was named best actress. “Nomadland” also took the cinematography prize.
Emerald Fennell’s revenge comedy “Promising Young Woman” was named best British film, while the best actor trophy went to 83-year-old Anthony Hopkins for playing a man grappling with dementia in “The Father.”
An event that was criticized in the recent past with the label #BAFTAsSoWhite rewarded a diverse group of talents, including Black British star Daniel Kaluuya, newcomer Bukky Bakray — who shone as a London teenager in “Rocks” — and veteran Korean actress Yuh-Jung Youn.
The fact that Britain remains under coronavirus lockdown measures, with its movie theaters still closed, gave the evening a poignant tone, as did the death on Friday of Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, a long-time patron of the British film academy.
Prince William, who had been due to attend and make a speech in his role as president of Britain’s film academy, was absent following the death of his grandfather. The ceremony opened with a tribute to Philip, who was the academy’s first president in 1959.
Presenters including Hugh Grant, Tom Hiddleston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Priyanka Chopra Jonas announced the winners from the stage of London’s Royal Albert Hall, but recipients accepted their honors remotely, and there was no black-tie audience to cheer them on.
Director Remi Weekes, who won the British debut prize for his first feature, “His House,” noted the surreal sensation of accepting the award while sitting in his living room in a tuxedo.
“Nomadland” stars McDormand as a middle-aged woman who travels the American West while living out of her van and picking up short-term work.
Zhao, who lived among real American travelers for the film, thanked “the nomadic community who so generously welcomed us into their lives.”
“How we treat our elders says a lot about who we are as a society, and we need to do better,” she said.
The only previous female directing winner was Kathryn Bigelow in 2010 for “The Hurt Locker.”
The British film academy expanded its voting membership and shook up its rules last year in an attempt to address a glaring lack of diversity in the nominations. In 2020, no women were nominated as best director for a seventh consecutive year, and all 20 nominees in the lead and supporting performer categories were white.
Under new rules that, among other things, made watching all longlisted films compulsory for academy voters, this year’s slate of acting nominees was strikingly more diverse, and four of the six filmmakers nominated for best director were women: Zhao, Sarah Gavron (“Rocks”), Shannon Murphy (“Babyteeth”) and Jasmila Zbanic (“Quo Vadis, Aida?”).
Asked what her directing prize meant for Asian women in film, Zhao said: “If this means more people like me get to live their dreams, then I feel very grateful.”
BAFTA chief executive Amanda Berry said the academy was “determined to make change.”
“We are not there yet, this is definitely still a work in progress, but I am really pleased with how far we have come,” she said.
Kaluuya was named best supporting actor for playing Black Panther leader Fred Hampton in “Judas and the Black Messiah.”
Youn appeared astonished to win the best-actress prize for Korean-American family drama “Minari.” The Korean performer said she had always thought of the British as “very snobbish people.” But, she later clarified, “not in a bad way.”
Bakray, 19, won the Rising Star award, whose previous winners include Kaluuya, Kristin Stewart, Tom Hardy and John Boyega.
“I don’t know how to feel,” she said. “When we filmed ‘Rocks,’ I thought 100 people would watch this film, max.”
Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round” was named best film not in the English language. Vinterberg paid tribute to his daughter Ida, who had been due to appear in the film and died in a car crash at the start of the shoot.
“We made this movie for her, so the honor granted by you, BAFTA voters, means more to us than you could ever imagine,” he said.
The British awards are usually held a week or two before the Academy Awards and have become an important awards-season staging post. This year, both the BAFTAs and the Oscars were postponed from their usual February berths because of the coronavirus pandemic.
BAFTAs in craft and backstage categories were handed out in a separate ceremony on Saturday, when “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” won two prizes, for costume design and hair and makeup.
Other double winners included “The Father” (best actor and adapted screenplay), “Sound of Metal” (editing and sound), “Promising Young Woman” (British film and original screenplay) and “Soul” (animated film and musical score).
Director Ang Lee was awarded the academy’s top honor, the BAFTA Fellowship.
Actor, writer and director Noel Clarke received the outstanding British contribution to cinema award, dedicating it to “my young Black boys and girls out there that never believed it could happen to them.”
Here’s a rundown of the marquee winners announced today (4/11):
BEST FILM
NOMADLAND Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Chloé Zhao
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Emerald Fennell, Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Josey McNamara
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
HIS HOUSE Remi Weekes (Writer/Director)
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
ANOTHER ROUND Thomas Vinterberg, Sisse Graum Jørgensen
DOCUMENTARY
MY OCTOPUS TEACHER Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed, Craig Foster
ANIMATED FILM
SOUL Pete Docter, Dana Murray
DIRECTOR
NOMADLAND Chloé Zhao
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Emerald Fennell
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
THE FATHER Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller
LEADING ACTRESS
FRANCES McDORMAND Nomadland
LEADING ACTOR
ANTHONY HOPKINS The Father
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
YUH-JUNG YOUN Minari
SUPPORTING ACTOR
DANIEL KALUUYA Judas and the Black Messiah
ORIGINAL SCORE
SOUL Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
CINEMATOGRAPHY
NOMADLAND Joshua James Richards
EDITING
SOUND OF METAL Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
EE RISING STAR AWARD
BUKKY BAKRAY
PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED SATURDAY (4/10) WINNERS:
CASTING
ROCKS Lucy Pardee
COSTUME DESIGN
MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM Ann Roth
MAKE UP & HAIR
MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM Matiki Anoff, Larry M. Cherry, Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal
PRODUCTION DESIGN
MANK Donald Graham Burt, Jan Pascale
SOUND
SOUND OF METAL Jaime Baksht, Nicolas Becker, Phillip Bladh, Carlos Cortés, Michelle Couttolenc
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
TENET Scott Fisher, Andrew Jackson, Andrew Lockley
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT Mole Hill, Laura Duncalf
BRITISH SHORT FILM
THE PRESENT Farah Nabulsi
“Heretic” and “Maria” Set As Red Carpet Premieres At AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced that Heretic, the psychological thriller starring Hugh Grant, and Maria, based on the life of opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie, will round out the Red Carpet Premieres section at this year’s AFI Fest. The Heretic Gala Screening will take place on Thursday, October 24, and the Maria Gala Screening will be held on Saturday, October 26. The complete Red Carpet Premieres section includes the world premieres of Music By John Williams, Robert Zemeckis’ Here, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2. All Red Carpet Premieres will take place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre. The full lineup for AFI Fest 2024 will be unveiled on October 1.
“At the heart of AFI Fest is an unwavering dedication to celebrating the best in global cinema--together,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “We look forward to uniting artists and audiences once again to be inspired by the art form in a powerful sense of community.”
Heretic follows two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (portrayed by Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The film is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and produced by Stacey Sher, Beck, Woods, Julia Glausi and Jeanette Volturno. The film will be released nationwide by A24 on November 8.
Directed by Pablo Larraín, Maria presents a tumultuous and beautiful depiction of one of the world’s most renowned artists and reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days in Paris, as Callas (Jolie)... Read More