The 77th British Academy Film Awards, or BAFTAs, will be held this Sunday, Feb. 18. The ceremony celebrates both British and international achievements in film. Similar to the Golden Globes, film fanatics look to the BAFTAs to predict who will win the corresponding Oscars. Here’s the rundown for this year’s awards:
How to watch:
For American viewers, the ceremony will be streaming live on BritBox International. The service has a seven-day free trial before charging $8.99 per month. The ceremony begins at 2 p.m. EST from Royal Festival Hall and will be hosted by David Tennant.
Who’s nominated:
“Oppenheimer” leads with the most nominations at 13, including Best Film, Best Director and acting nominations for Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Robert Downey Jr. Following “Oppenheimer” in nominations are “Poor Things,” which has 11 nominations, and “Killers of the Flower Moon,” which has nine; both are also nominated for Best Film. The other nominees for Best Film are “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Holdovers.”
Notable nominees in the acting categories include Margot Robbie in “Barbie” and Emma Stone in “Poor Things” for Best Leading Actress, Paul Giamatti in “The Holdovers” and Cillian Murphy in “Oppenheimer” for Best Leading Actor, Da’Vine Joy Randolph in “The Holdovers” for Best Supporting Actress and Ryan Gosling in “Barbie” for Best Supporting Actor.
Stone, Giamatti, Downey Jr., Randolph and Murphy all won Golden Globes for their roles and were also nominated for Oscars. Stone is also a producer for “Poor Things” and is nominated for Best Film. Lily Gladstone was not nominated for Best Leading Actress despite being nominated for an Oscar and winning the Golden Globe in the equivalent categories.
Four films are nominated for Best Animated Film: “The Boy and the Heron,” “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” “Elemental” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”
A few BAFTA awards are specifically for British works and authors. Nominees in Outstanding British Film include “Poor Things,” “Napoleon,” “Saltburn” and “Wonka.” “How to Have Sex,” which is nominated for three awards – including Outstanding British Film – is included in the nominations for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for its writer and director Molly Manning Walker. The other two British-specific awards are Best British Short Film and Best British Short Animation.
Another category exclusive to the BAFTAs is the EE Rising Star Award, given to an actor who made a major breakthrough in the industry over the last year. Unlike the other awards, this one is chosen not by BAFTA members but by the public via online and text voting. This year’s nominees are Phoebe Dynevor, Ayo Edebiri, Jacob Elordi, Mia McKenna-Bruce and Sophie Wilde. If one of your favorite actors is on this list, you can vote for them here.
Edebiri has exploded in popularity over the last year after reprising her role in the hit TV show “The Bear” and starring in “Bottoms.” Both she and Elordi hosted Saturday Night Live just weeks ago.
To see the full list of nominations, click here.
