‘One Battle After Another’ tops BAFTA Film nominations

London, Jan. 28: Paul Thomas Anderson’s politically charged action thriller One Battle After Another is leading the race for the British Academy Film Awards, securing 14 nominations on Tuesday, including acting nods for five members of its cast.

Ryan Coogler’s blues-steeped vampire epic Sinners is close behind with 13 nominations, while Chloé Zhao’s Shakespearean family tragedy Hamnet and Josh Safdie’s ping-pong odyssey Marty Supreme have 11 apiece.

The Best Film nominees are One Battle After Another, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, Sinners and Norwegian family drama Sentimental Value.

Best Leading Actor contenders are Robert Aramayo for portraying a man with Tourette’s syndrome in the biographical drama I Swear; Timothée Chalamet for Marty Supreme; Leonardo DiCaprio for One Battle After Another; Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon; Michael B. Jordan for Sinners; and Jesse Plemons for Bugonia.

The Leading Actress race pits favourite Jessie Buckley for Hamnet against Rose Byrne for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Kate Hudson for Song Sung Blue, Chase Infiniti for One Battle After Another, Renate Reinsve for Sentimental Value and Emma Stone for Bugonia.

One Battle After Another actors Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn are all nominated for supporting performances.

The Associated Press was recognised in the Best Documentary category with a nomination for Mstyslav Chernov’s harrowing portrait of the war in Ukraine, 2000 Metres to Andriivka, co-produced by the AP and PBS Frontline.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on 22 February, hosted by actor Alan Cumming. The UK prizes — officially known as the EE BAFTA Film Awards — often provide clues as to who will triumph at Hollywood’s Academy Awards, which take place this year on 15 March.

Unusually, Oscar nominations were announced first this year, with Sinners securing a record 16 nominations, followed by 13 for One Battle After Another.

The British academy has recognised several performers overlooked by the Oscars, including Supporting Actor nominees Paul Mescal for Hamnet and Odessa A’zion for Marty Supreme.

The BAFTAs also have a distinctly British flavour, with a separate category for Best British Film. Its 10 nominees include The Ballad of Wallis Island, Pillion, I Swear and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.

Most BAFTA winners are chosen by the academy’s 8,500 UK industry members, with one award — the Rising Star Award — decided by a public vote from a shortlist of nominees. This year’s Rising Star contenders are Infiniti, Aramayo, Sinners star Miles Caton, and British actors Archie Madekwe and Posy Sterling.

Like other major film awards, the British academy has introduced changes in recent years to increase diversity. In 2020, no women were nominated for Best Director for the seventh year running, and all 20 nominees in the lead and supporting performance categories were white. The voting process was subsequently revised to include a long-list round before final nominees are selected.

Zhao is the only female nominee in the Best Director category, alongside Anderson, Safdie, Coogler, Yorgos Lanthimos for Bugonia and Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value. Across all categories, including documentaries and shorts, 25 per cent of directing nominees are women. (AP)