It’s just over a month until the BAFTA Film Awards are handed out on Sunday February 12th, and a couple weeks until the nominations are announced on January 17th. Ahead of that, BAFTA has released the longlist of potential nominees in each category.
The list has already sparked controversy for including the likes of the tepidly received Iron Lady and My Week With Marilyn in Best Film, while missing out Shame. Much acclaimed gay indie hit Weekend wasn’t longlisted in any category. Apparently Arthur Christmas was one of the 15 Best British movies of the year, but Weekend wasn’t, despite winning several film festival awards and ending up on a slew on critics best of 2011 lists.
Weekend’s snub is undoubtedly a result of the fact that while major awards ceremony like to pat themselves on the back for recognising smaller films, they’re actually heavily weighted towards the mainstream, irrespective of the quality of the actual movies. Without the weight of a major (studio-backed) distributor who has big pockets to launch an expensive campaign for a movie, it’s very tough to get a look in (and let’s not forgot most of those voting are heavily tied into the mainstream Brit filmmaking community).
So how is the longlist produced? According to BAFTA, ‘The Longlist is the result of Round One voting by members of the Academy. With 285 films entered this year, the first round of voting reduced the list of eligible films to 15 in each category. Round Two voting, which opens today, will reduce these 15 contenders down to the five nominations in each category. Appearing on the Longlist does not constitute a nomination.
‘Over 6300 members of the Academy vote in three rounds to decide the Longlist, Nominations and Winners. All members vote in the first two rounds for all categories barring Documentary, Film Not in the English Language and Outstanding British Film, which are voted for by Chapters. The asterisks in the Longlist denote the top five selection of the relevant Chapter. In the final round, winners are voted for by specialist Chapters in all categories except for Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Documentary and Film Not in the English Language and the four performance categories, which are voted for by all members.’
We’ve included the longlists for Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Film below, but if you want to see all the categories, you can get them in PDF form by clicking here.
Best Film
The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
The Iron Lady
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
My Week with Marilyn
Senna
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
War Horse
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Leading Actor
Antonio Banderas (Robert Ledgard) – The Skin I Live In
Brad Pitt (Billy Beane) – Moneyball
Brendan Gleeson (Gerry Boyle) – The Guard
Daniel Craig (Mikael Blomkvist) – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Eddie Redmayne (Colin Clark) – My Week with Marilyn
Gary Oldman (George Smiley) – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
George Clooney (Matt King) – The Descendants
Jean Dujardin (George Valentin) – The Artist
Leonardo DiCaprio (J. Edgar Hoover) – J. Edgar
Michael Fassbender (Brandon) – Shame
Owen Wilson (Gil) – Midnight in Paris
Peter Mullan (Joseph) – Tyrannosaur
Ralph Fiennes (Caius Martius Coriolanus) – Coriolanus
Ryan Gosling (Driver) – Drive
Ryan Gosling (Stephen Meyers) – The Ides of March
Leading Actress
Bérénice Bejo (Peppy Miller) – The Artist
Carey Mulligan (Sissy) – Shame
Charlize Theron (Mavis Gary) – Young Adult
Emma Stone (Skeeter Phelan) – The Help
Helen Mirren (Rachel Singer) – The Debt
Jodie Foster (Penelope Longstreet) – Carnage
Kate Winslet (Nancy Cowan) – Carnage
Kristen Wiig (Annie) – Bridesmaids
Meryl Streep (Margaret Thatcher) – The Iron Lady
Mia Wasikowska (Jane Eyre) – Jane Eyre
Michelle Williams (Marilyn Monroe) – My Week with Marilyn
Olivia Colman (Hannah) – Tyrannosaur
Rooney Mara (Lisbeth Salander) – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Tilda Swinton (Eva) – We Need to Talk About Kevin
Viola Davis (Aibileen Clark) – The Help
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