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.
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
