You can see the BAFTA winners LIVE here!
The 74th Annual British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) will be mostly a virtual event, with just a few big awards set to be handed out live at The Royal Albert Hall in 2021. However, this year the event will be split over both the 10th and 11th of April. The first evening is to be known as the ‘Opening Night’ where 8 award winners will be revealed. The following evening will see the remaining 17 categories be awarded with all nominees set to join as a virtual audience.
As you can tell, this is not quite the traditional ceremony that we are used to, but we can’t wait to share our predictions and the final BAFTA results with you all. With a diverse group of nominees including films which have been overlooked by many other award bodies, it is harder to be certain of who will walk away with each title. Nonetheless, here are our predictions for the 2021 BAFTAs. The films under our predicted winners in bold are runner-ups ranked in how likely they are to cause an upset. The nominations for the 2021 Academy Awards can also be found on DiscussingFilm.
Best Film
1. WINNER: Nomadland
2. NEXT IN LINE: The Trial of the Chicago 7
3. Promising Young Woman
4. The Mauritanian
5. The Father
Outstanding British Film
1. WINNER: Rocks
2. NEXT IN LINE: The Mauritanian
3. The Father
4. Promising Young Woman
5. The Dig 6. Saint Maud
7. His House
8. Calm With Horses
9. Mogul Mowgli
10. Limbo
Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
1. WINNER: Rocks – Theresa Ikoko, Claire Wilson (writers)
2. NEXT IN LINE: Saint Maud – Rose Glass (writer/director), Oliver Kassman (producer) [also produced by Andrea Cornwell]
3. His House – Remi Weekes (writer/director)
4. Limbo – Ben Sharrock (writer/director), Irune Gurtubai (producer) [also produced by Angus Lamont]
5. Moffie – Jack Sidey (writer/producer) [also written by Oliver Hermanus and produced by Eric Abraham]
Best Film Not In The English Language
1. WINNER: Minari
2. NEXT IN LINE: Another Round
3. Quo Vadis, Aida?
4. Les Misérables
5. Dear Comrades!
Minari has won at every awards event it has been eligible. This confusion of including it or not reminds of 2019’s The Farewell, as it ran into a similar situation. However, Minari is a US production spoken mainly in Korean, therefore, it shouldn’t be considered as high in the BAFTAs. But since it is here, it is likely that it will conquer over the others in the Best Film Not In The English Language category. At the Oscars, where Minari is ineligible, Another Round is the clear frontrunner and with Thomas Vinterberg’s film performing well with nominations at the BAFTAs, there is still a strong chance that it could nab a win over Minari here. It will be a bit of a shock if it does win though, considering how popular Minari has been in this year’s awards circuit.
Best Documentary
1. WINNER: Collective
2. NEXT IN LINE: My Octopus Teacher
3. David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
4. The Social Dilemma
5. The Dissident
Best Animated Film
1. WINNER: Soul
2. NEXT IN LINE: Wolfwalkers
3. Onward
With a very limited number of nominations in this category, it seems mostly likely that Soul will take the prize, continuing it’s award season winning streak. Although, Wolfwalkers is not to be underestimated. With its strong ties to Irish folklore, it would not be a surprise if this is the ceremony that ends up favoring Wolfwalkers over Soul.
Best Director
1. WINNER: Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
2. NEXT IN LINE: Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round
3. Sarah Gavron, Rocks
4. Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
5. Jasmila Žbanić, Quo Vadis, Aida? 6. Shannon Murphy, Babyteeth
Best Original Screenplay
1. WINNER: Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
2. NEXT IN LINE: Theresa Ikoko, Claire Wilson, Rocks
3. Tobias Lindholm, Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round
4. Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7
5. Jack Fincher, Mank
Best Adapted Screenplay
1. WINNER: Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani, MB Traven, The Mauritanian
2. NEXT IN LINE: Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller, The Father
3. Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
4. Moira Buffini, The Dig
5. Ramin Bahrani, The White Tiger
Best Actress
1. WINNER: Frances McDormand, Nomadland
2. NEXT IN LINE: Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman
3. Bukky Bakray, Rocks
4. Wunmi Mosaku, His House
5. Alfre Woodard, Clemency 6. Radha Blank, The Forty-Year-Old Version
It comes as a shock that beloved British Actress Carey Mulligan was not nominated in this category after winning a Critics Choice Award for her performance in Promising Young Woman. Viola Davis and Andra Day, who won the SAG and Golden Globe for this category respectively, are also not in this pool of nominees. Our safe bet is Frances McDormand for this title, with Bukky Bakray more likely to take the EE Rising Star Award. But you shouldn’t count Vanessa Kirby’s performance in Pieces of a Woman out of the race just yet.
Best Actor
1. WINNER: Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
2. NEXT IN LINE: Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
3. Anthony Hopkins, The Father
4. Tahar Rahim, The Mauritanian
5. Mads Mikkelsen, Another Round 6. Adarsh Gourav, The White Tiger
Best Supporting Actress
1. WINNER: Youn Yuh-jung, Minari
2. NEXT IN LINE: Kosar Ali, Rocks
3. Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
4. Dominique Fishback, Judas and the Black Messiah
5. Niamh Algar, Calm With Horses 6. Ashley Madekwe, County Lines
After her deserving win at the SAG Awards, Youn Yuh-Jung is likely to be the main contender for Best Supporting Actress at the BAFTAs. Although Maria Bakalova has been a popular name throughout the award season, it is not unlikely that the up and coming actress Kosar Ali would be favored by the British Academy following her critically acclaimed turnout in Rocks.
Best Supporting Actor
1. WINNER: Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
2. NEXT IN LINE: Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
3. Leslie Odom Jr, One Night in Miami
4. Alan Kim, Minari
5. Barry Keoghan, Calm With Horses 6. Clarke Peters, Da 5 Bloods
Best Original Score
1. WINNER: Soul
2. NEXT IN LINE: Mank
3. Minari
4. News of the World
5. Promising Young Woman
Best Casting
1. WINNER: Rocks
2. NEXT IN LINE: Minari
3. Judas and the Black Messiah
4. Calm With Horses
5. Promising Young Woman
Best Cinematography
1. WINNER: Nomadland
2. NEXT IN LINE: Judas and the Black Messiah
3. Mank
4. News of the World
5. The Mauritanian
Elsewhere, Nomadland has been consistently winning cinematography awards with Mank a close second behind. But here at the BAFTAs, there’s a strong chance that Sean Bobbitt’s work on Judas and the Black Messiah could be recognized. Bobbitt is British, under-awarded, and from chatter stirring inside BAFTA, it seems his work is greatly appreciated. It still wouldn’t be wise to bet against Nomadland, considering its continued success in this category.
Best Editing
1. WINNER: The Trial of The Chicago 7
2. NEXT IN LINE: Sound of Metal
3. The Father
4. Nomadland
5. Promising Young Woman
Over the past few years, a trend has been growing with the BAFTAs editing winners. It’s clear that the film with the most prominent editing style almost always triumphs. For example, the last two winners were Ford v Ferrari and Vice. Thus, The Trial of the Chicago 7 is the clear choice to bet on. It would be a surprise if it went any other way.
Best Production Design
1. WINNER: Mank
2. NEXT IN LINE: News of the World
3. The Father
4. The Dig
5. Rebecca
Best Costume Design
1. WINNER: Emma
2. NEXT IN LINE: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
3. Ammonite
4. Mank
5. The Dig
Best Makeup and Hair
1. WINNER: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
2. NEXT IN LINE: Hillbilly Elegy
3. Pinocchio
4. Mank
5. The Dig
Best Sound
1. WINNER: Sound of Metal
2. NEXT IN LINE: Soul
3. Greyhound
4. News of the World
5. Nomadland
Best Visual Effects
1. WINNER: Tenet
2. NEXT IN LINE: The Midnight Sky
3. Greyhound
4. Mulan
5. The One and Only Ivan
Best British Short Animation
1. WINNER: The Fire Next Time
2. NEXT IN LINE: The Song of a Lost Boy
3. The Owl and the Pussycat
Best British Short Film
1. WINNER: The Present
2. NEXT IN LINE: Lizard
3. Lucky Break
4. Eyelash
5. Miss Curvy
EE Rising Star (Voted for by the public)
1. WINNER: Kingsley Ben-Adir
2. NEXT IN LINE: Bukky Bakray
3. Morfydd Clark
4. Conrad Khan
5. Ṣọpẹ Dìrísù
The Rising Star Award is the BAFTAs only accolade voted on by the public, limited to UK residents. Therefore, the viewing habits of UK citizens as of late must be taken into account. StudioCanal’s Saint Maud saw success in its cinema run before the UK’s November lockdown, garnering a box office total of $1.1 million. If we’re going by box office numbers then Saint Maud’s Morfydd Clark leads, but it’s indisputable that Kingsley Ben-Adir is certainly the biggest name of the lot.
Past winners have been Kristen Stewart, Tom Holland, and Daniel Kaluuya, therefore, the obvious choice is Ben-Adir. On the other hand, the BAFTAs have embraced Rocks with open arms, lifting its star Bukky Bakray high up in the running. But has the UK public been exposed to Rocks quite as much as BAFTA members? That’s the real question… one thing is clear though: Morfydd Clark and Bukky Bakray could spoil Ben-Adir’s night.
