BAFTA Film winners: Joshua James Richards wins Cinematography award for Nomadland

The best in film was celebrated at the 2021 EE British Academy Film Awards, with British cinematographer Joshua James Richards winning the Cinematography award for Nomadland. Nomadland won three further BAFTAs: Best Film, Director for Chloé Zhao and Leading Actress for Frances McDormand.

Accepting his award for Cinematography, Richards said: “Thank you, BAFTA. I’m so filled with gratitude. This means more than I can say. My fellow nominees, congratulations and thank you. I am so inspired by all of you. You are such incredible artists. Thank you Searchlight, the Nomadland team, Frances McDormand. Our wonderful director Chloé, you’re the reason I’m here.

“There’s a Morrissey line in Nomadland, ‘Home, is it just a word? Or is it something that you carry within you?’ I grew up in Penzance, Cornwall, and moved to America 11 years ago with the dream of being a storyteller. And I realised something in that time, and I want to say to my family back home in England, that although I don’t get to see you all, as much as I’d like to, that you are my home. To my mum and dad, John and Mary Richards and to my brothers Gareth and Joel and my nephews Ethan and Elijah, who are only 9 and 11, and this last year must seem so scary to you. I love you all, and I’ve carried you with me. Things will get better, they always do. Thank you so much, BAFTA.”

You can read the behind the scenes feature on Richards’ lensing of Nomadland from the January issue of British Cinematographer here.

Chloé Zhao made history, becoming the second woman to win a BAFTA Directing award. “I would love to share this award with my producers, Frances McDorman, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher and Dan Janvey, and also the whole team as Searchlight pictures. Thank you so much for creating such a safe and encouraging environment for me to always challenge myself and to play,” Zhao said, accpeting her award. “A huge special shout out to Frances McDormand, who is a brilliant storyteller of our all. Thank you, Fran for discovering Fern with me and for bringing so much joy to our journey. Thank you.”

The film went on to receive the BAFTA awward for Best Film. Accepting the award on behalf of the whole Nomadland team, Zhao said: “Thank you, BAFTA. Again, thank you so much. We would like to dedicate this award to the nomadic community who so generously welcomed us into their lives. They shared with us their dreams, their struggles, and their deep sense of dignity. Thank you for showing us that ageing is a beautiful part of life, a journey that we should all cherish and celebrate. How we treat our elders says a lot about who we are as a society and we need to do better. Thank you again, members of the BAFTA, we hope to see you down the road.”

Promising Young Woman won two awards: Outstanding British Film, and Original Screenplay for Emerald Fennell. The Father also received two awards: Leading Actor for Anthony Hopkins, and Adapted Screenplay for Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller.

Supporting Actor was won by Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah and Supporting Actress was awarded to Yuh-Jung Youn for Minari. Soul won Animated Film and Original Score. Another Round won Film Not in the English Language. Sound of Metal won Editing and Sound. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom won Costume Design and Make Up & Hair.

Writer/director Remi Weekes received the award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for His House. My Octopus Teacher won Documentary, Rocks won Casting, Tenet won Special Visual Effects and Mank won Production Design. The Present won the British Short Film award, while the BAFTA for British Short Animation was won by The Owl and the Pussycat.

The Special Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema was presented to filmmaker Noel Clarke. The Fellowship, the highest honour the Academy can bestow, was introduced by Hugh Grant and presented to director Ang Lee. The EE Rising Star Award, voted for by the public, went to Bukky Bakray.

Sunday’s ceremony, hosted by Edith Bowman and Dermot O’Leary, was held at London’s Royal Albert Hall with nominees attending virtually. The show included three featured musical performances: by Liam Payne, Celeste, and Leslie Odom Jr. (from Los Angeles) and Corinne Bailey Rae.

On Saturday 10 April, the Opening Night ceremony was hosted Clara Amfo, who was joined by guests Rhianna Dhillon and Joanna Scanlan at the Royal Albert Hall. Winners announced during the opening ceremony event included Production Design which was awarded to Donald Graham Burt and Jan Pascale for Mank and Special Visual Effects which was awarded to Scott Fisher, Andrew Jackson and Andrew Lockley for Tenet.

BY: Zoe Mutter

BAFTA 2021 WINNERS

CINEMATOGRAPHY
WINNER – NOMADLAND Joshua James Richards

Nominees

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH Sean Bobbitt

MANK Erik Messerschmidt

THE MAURITANIAN Alwin H. Küchler

NEWS OF THE WORLD Dariusz Wolski

BEST FILM

WINNER – NOMADLAND Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Chloé Zhao

Nominees

THE FATHER Philippe Carcassonne, Jean-Louis Livi, David Parfitt

THE MAURITANIAN Adam Ackland, Leah Clarke, Beatriz Levin, Lloyd Levin

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Ben Browning, Emerald Fennell, Ashley Fox, Josey McNamara

THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 Stuart Besser, Marc Platt

DIRECTOR

WINNER – NOMADLAND Chloé Zhao

Nominees

ANOTHER ROUND Thomas Vinterberg

BABYTEETH Shannon Murphy

MINARI Lee Isaac Chung

QUO VADIS, AIDA? Jasmila Žbanić

ROCKS Sarah Gavron

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
WINNER – PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Emerald Fennell, Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Josey McNamara

Nominees

CALM WITH HORSES Nick Rowland, Daniel Emmerson, Joe Murtagh

THE DIG Simon Stone, Gabrielle Tana, Ellie Wood, Moira Buffini

THE FATHER Florian Zeller, Philippe Carcassone, Jean-Louis Livi, David Parfitt, Christopher Hampton

HIS HOUSE Remi Weekes, Martin Gentles, Edward King, Roy Lee

LIMBO Ben Sharrock, Irune Gurtubai, Angus Lamont

THE MAURITANIAN Kevin Macdonald, Adam Ackland, Leah Clarke, Beatriz Levin, Lloyd Levin, Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani, M.B. Traven

MOGUL MOWGLI Bassam Tariq, Riz Ahmed, Thomas Benski, Bennett McGhee

ROCKS Sarah Gavron, Ameenah Ayub Allen, Faye Ward, Theresa Ikoko, Claire Wilson

SAINT MAUD Rose Glass, Andrea Cornwell, Oliver Kassman

DOCUMENTARY
WINNER – MY OCTOPUS TEACHER Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed, Craig Foster

Nominees

COLLECTIVE Alexander Nanau

DAVID ATTENBOROUGH: A LIFE ON OUR PLANET Alastair Fothergill, Jonnie Hughes, Keith Scholey

THE DISSIDENT Bryan Fogel, Thor Halvorssen, Mark Monroe, Jake Swantko

THE SOCIAL DILEMMA Jeff Orlowski, Larissa Rhodes

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

WINNER – HIS HOUSE Remi Weekes (Writer/Director)

Nominees

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]

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
WINNER – PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Emerald Fennell  

Nominees

ANOTHER ROUND Tobias Lindholm, Thomas Vinterberg

MANK Jack Fincher

ROCKS Theresa Ikoko, Claire Wilson

THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 Aaron Sorkin

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
WINNER – ANOTHER ROUND Thomas Vinterberg, Kasper Dissing, Sisse Graum Jørgensen

Nominees

DEAR COMRADES! Andrei Konchalovsky, Alisher Usmanov

LES MISÉRABLES Ladj Ly, Toufik Ayadi, Christophe Barral

MINARI Lee Isaac Chung, Christina Oh

QUO VADIS, AIDA? Jasmila Žbanić, Damir Ibrahimovich

EDITING
WINNER – SOUND OF METAL Mikkel E.G. Nielsen

Nominees

THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 Alan Baumgarten

THE FATHER Yorgos Lamprinos

NOMADLAND Chloé Zhao

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Frédéric Thoraval

PRODUCTION DESIGN

WINNER – MANK Donald Graham Burt, Jan Pascale

Nominees

THE DIG Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana Macdonald

THE FATHER Peter Francis, Cathy Featherstone

NEWS OF THE WORLD David Crank, Elizabeth Keenan

REBECCA Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer

BRITISH SHORT FILM

WINNER – THE PRESENT Farah Nabulsi

Nominees

EYELASH Jesse Lewis Reece, Ike Newman

LIZARD Akinola Davies, Rachel Dargavel, Wale Davies

LUCKY BREAK John Addis, Rami Sarras Pantoja

MISS CURVY Ghada Eldemellawy

BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION

WINNER – THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT Mole Hill, Laura Duncalf

Nominees

THE FIRE NEXT TIME Renaldho Pelle, Yanling Wang, Kerry Jade Kolbe

THE SONG OF A LOST BOY Daniel Quirke, Jamie MacDonald, Brid Arnstein

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

WINNER – TENET Scott Fisher, Andrew Jackson, Andrew Lockley

Nominees

GREYHOUND Pete Bebb, Nathan McGuinness, Sebastian von Overheidt, Whitney Richman

THE MIDNIGHT SKY Matt Kasmir, Chris Lawrence, Max Solomon, David Watkins

MULAN Sean Faden, Steve Ingram, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury

THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN Santiago Colomo Martinez, Nick Davis, Greg Fisher, Ben Jones

SOUND

WINNER – SOUND OF METAL Jaime Baksht, Nicolas Becker, Phillip Bladh, Carlos Cortés, Michelle Couttolenc

Nominees

GREYHOUND Beau Borders, Christian P. Minkler, Michael Minkler, Warren Shaw, David Wyman

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

LEADING ACTRESS
WINNER – FRANCES McDORMAND Nomadland

Nominees

BUKKY BAKRAY Rocks

RADHA BLANK The Forty-Year-Old Version

VANESSA KIRBY Pieces of a Woman

WUNMI MOSAKU His House

ALFRE WOODARD Clemency

LEADING ACTOR
WINNER – ANTHONY HOPKINS The Father

Nominees

MADS MIKKELSEN Another Round

TAHAR RAHIM The Mauritanian

RIZ AHMED Sound of Metal

CHADWICK BOSEMAN Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

ADARSH GOURAV The White Tiger

EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
WINNER

Bukky Bakray

Nominees

CONRAD KHAN

KINGSLEY BEN-ADIR

MORFYDD CLARK

ṢỌPẸ DÌRÍSÙ

ORIGINAL SCORE

WINNER – SOUL Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Nominees

MANK Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

MINARI Emile Mosseri

NEWS OF THE WORLD James Newton Howard

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Anthony Willis

SUPPORTING ACTOR
WINNER – DANIEL KALUUYA Judas and the Black Messiah

Nominees

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

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

WINNER – YUH-JUNG YOUN Minari

Nominees

NIAMH ALGAR Calm With Horses

KOSAR ALI Rocks

MARIA BAKALOVA Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

DOMINIQUE FISHBACK Judas and the Black Messiah

ASHLEY MADEKWE County Lines

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
WINNER – THE FATHER Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller

Nominees

THE DIG Moira Buffini

THE MAURITANIAN Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani, M.B. Traven

NOMADLAND Chloé Zhao

THE WHITE TIGER Ramin Bahrani

ANIMATED FILM

WINNER – SOUL Pete Docter, Dana Murray

Nominees

ONWARD Dan Scanlon, Kori Rae

WOLFWALKERS Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Paul Young

CASTING

WINNER – ROCKS Lucy Pardee

Nominees

CALM WITH HORSES Shaheen Baig

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH Alexa L. Fogel

MINARI Julia Kim

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN Lindsay Graham Ahanonu, Mary Vernieu

COSTUME DESIGN

WINNER – MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM Ann Roth

Nominees

AMMONITE Michael O’Connor

THE DIG Alice Babidge

EMMA Alexandra Byrne

MANK Trish Summerville

MAKE UP & HAIR

WINNER – MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM Matiki Anoff, Larry M. Cherry, Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal

Nominees

THE DIG Jenny Shircore

HILLBILLY ELEGY Patricia Dehaney, Eryn Krueger Mekash, Matthew Mungle

MANK Colleen LaBaff, Kimberley Spiteri, Gigi Williams

PINOCCHIO Dalia Colli, Mark Coulier, Francesco Pegoretti

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO CINEMA

NOEL CLARKE