Dedicated to the Golden Globes, “Nomadland” and “Rocks” have arrived in multicultural London, as nominees for the Bafta, British Film Awards, which are presented Sunday night and whose selection is more varied in this edition.
A hymn to the glory of contemporary hippies who travel to America in their trucks, “Nomadland” was nominated for Best Film, Best Director (Chloe Chow), and Best Actress (Frances McDormand).
In the Best Film category, the film faces “The Father” (with Anthony Hopkins) and “The Mauritanian” about a lawyer defending a Mauritanian accused of terrorism by the United States, and the feminist thriller “A Promising Young Woman” and the Court Drama.
With seven nominations, including Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Original Screenplay, British film “Rocks” can surprise Sarah Gavron (“Brick Lane” and “Suffragette”).
The film follows a 15-year-old Anglo-Gigiri teenager who has been abandoned by her mother and tries to get along with her little brother with the support of her group of friends from East London.
Bucky Bakray who plays “Rocks” (the title of the main character) won the Best Actress award.
“Mank”, a black and white film about the golden age of Hollywood, “Minari”, which evokes the story of a North Korean family seeking a new life as farmers in the United States, as well as “father” and “promising young woman.” They are aspiring to receive the six awards for which they have been nominated.
Film legend Anthony Hopkins was nominated for Best Actor for his role as an elderly man with dementia in “The Father.”
– Me special –
The names of the winners will be announced at a ceremony organized without an audience, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, broadcast at 18:00 GMT from the prestigious Royal Albert Hall.
Due to the death of his grandfather Prince Philip on Friday, Prince William, who was scheduled to deliver a pre-recorded speech, will not participate in the ceremony.
Last year, the team was criticized for its lack of diversity.
In the nominations for the 2020 Film Awards, there were no non-white actors in the top four categories, and no directors were nominated.
Since then, the organization has been reviewing all categories to introduce more diversity in nominations.
This year, four female managers have been appointed, which is the first. And in the best actor category, the British of Pakistani descent Riz Ahmed, the Frenchman of Algerian origin Taher Rahim, the Indian actor Adarsh Gaurav, and the black American actor Chadwick Bosman, who died last year of cancer, at the age of 43.
Sarah Gavron, director of “Rocks,” the primary black actresses, told AFP it was “unbelievable” that having non-white artists in BAFTA “took so long”.
Ladj Ly, the French film “Les Misérables”, which tells about police brutality in a sensitive neighborhood on the outskirts of Paris and won a César (French Oscar) for Best Picture last year, was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.
His competitors include “Minary” by US director Lee Isaac Chung and “Drunk (Another Round)”, the story of the alcoholism experience of Dane Thomas Winterberg.
Director Ang Lee (“Mind and Feelings”, “Tiger and Dragon” and “Odyssey Bey”) will receive a BAFTA Academy Fellowship, the highest honor from BAFTA, which rewards his work.
pau / gmo / roc / af / mar
