BAFTA 2021 Nominations: Rocks And Nomadland Lead This Year’s Nominees

Rocks

by Ben Travis |
Updated on

Normally, at this time of year we’d be swimming in a sea of awards contenders on the big screen – the most seemingly statue-worthy films crowding into cinemas in order to keep momentum right up until the prize-giving. But this is no ordinary awards season, and one of this year’s most-nominated films at the BAFTAs 2021 is one that entered our world away from all the awards hubbub – the brilliant, beautiful London-set coming-of-age drama Rocks, from Sarah Gavron, Theresa Ikoko and Claire Wilson. It snuck out into cinemas at the end of last summer, before quickly being added to Netflix UK once they closed again – and now, months later, the film has picked up seven nominations at the biggest British film awards.

As well as being up for Best British Film, Rocks is nominated for Best Original Screenplay, Outstanding Debut, and Best Director, with Bukky Bakray up for Best Leading Actress, and Kosar Ali up for Best Supporting Actress. Bakray is also among the five nominees for the EE Rising Star award.

Also receiving seven nominations is Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland – a critically-acclaimed drama starring Frances McDormand as a woman who loses everything in the 2008 financial crash, and subsequently takes up a nomadic lifestyle in the American expanse. Zhao’s latest is up for Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and more, with McDormand among the nominees for Best Leading Actress. Recently, it was confirmed that Nomadland will be heading to Star on Disney+ from 30 April, and will be followed by a release in cinemas once they reopen. That Zhao’s next film is Marvel’s upcoming Eternals only makes Nomadland even more fascinating.

Elsewhere, there were other big BAFTA contenders – including Emerald Fennell’s satirical thriller Promising Young Woman, David Fincher’s Hollywood tale Mank, the Anthony Hopkins-starring dementia drama The Father, and the Steven Yeun-starring Korean drama Minari, which all received six nominations each. Plus, historical archaeology tale The Dig and legal drama The Mauritanian each bagged five nominations.

There are, as ever, a few surprises on the list – some more welcome than others. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’s scene-stealing Maria Bakalova received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and there’s a posthumous Best Actor nomination for Chadwick Boseman following his searing performance as Levee in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. While there was finally some love for Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods after its egregious Golden Globes snubs, it’s curious that the (always great) Clarke Peters nabbed a Supporting Actor nomination over his co-star Delroy Lindo, whose incredible performance as the MAGA-hat-wearing Paul was widely praised on release. Also absent from the acting nominees is Steven Yeun for Minari, though his diminutive co-star Alan Kim is among the Supporting Actor nominations. Great, too, to see some horror genre love for Remi Weekes’ astonishing refugee haunted house movie His House, up for Best British Film and British Debut, along with a Leading Actress nomination for Wunmi Mosaku.

Most notably, it’s a rich and diverse list this year, one that marks a notable shift from previous years dominated by white performers and male filmmakers – a broader selection that feels much more reflective of our filmmaking landscape in Britain and beyond, and of the astonishing year we’ve just seen in the movies, even at a time when cinemas have been forced to close. Tune in to the ceremony on 11 April to see which film bags all the biggest prizes – and check out the full list of nominees below.

The Full List Of Nominees

Best Film

The Father

The Mauritanian

Nomadland

Promising Young Woman

The Trial of the Chicago 7

Outstanding British Film

Calm With Horses

The Dig

The Father

His House

Limbo

The Mauritanian

Mogul Mowgli

Promising Young Woman

Rocks

Saint Maud

Best Leading Actress

Bukky Bakray - Rocks

Radha Blank - The Forty-Year-Old Version

Vanessa Kirby - Pieces Of A Woman

Frances McDormand - Nomadland

Wunmi Mosaku - His House

Alfre Woodard - Clemency

Best Leading Actor

Riz Ahmed - Sound Of Metal

Chadwick Boseman - Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Adarsh Gourav - The White Tiger

Anthony Hopkins - The Father

Mads Mikkelsen - Another Round

Tahar Rahim - The Mauritanian

Best Supporting Actress

Niamh Algar - Calm With Horses

Kosar Ali - Rocks

Maria Bakalova - Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Dominique Fishback - Judas and the Black Messiah

Ashley Madekwe - County Lines

Yuh-Jung Youn - Minari

Best Supporting Actor

Daniel Kaluuya - Judas And The Black Messiah

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

Best Director

Another Round - Thomas Vinterberg

Babyteeth - Shannon Murphy

Minari - Lee Isaac Chung

Nomadland - Chloé Zhao

Quo Vadis, Aida? - Jasmila Žbanić

Rocks - Sarah Gavron

Outstanding Debut by A British Writer, Director Or Producer

His House - Remi Weekes (writer/director)

Limbo - Ben Sharrock (writer/director), Irune Gurtubai (producer)

Moffie - Jack Sidey (writer/producer)

Rocks - Theresa Ikoko, Claire Wilson (writers)

Saint Maud - Rose Glass (writer/director), Oliver Kassman (producer)

Film Not In The English Language

Another Round

Dear Comrades!

Les Misérables

Minari

Quo Vadis, Aida?

Best Documentary

Collective

David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet

The Dissident

My Octopus Teacher

The Social Dilemma

Best Animated Film

Onward

Soul

Wolfwalkers

Best Original screenplay

Another Round - Tobias Lindholm, Thomas Vinterberg

Mank - Jack Fincher

Promising Young Woman - Emerald Fennell

Rocks - Theresa Ikoko

The Trial of the Chicago 7 - Aaron Sorkin

Adapted Screenplay

The Dig - Moira Buffini

The Father - Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller

The Mauritanian - Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani, MB Traven

Nomadland - Chloé Zhao

The White Tiger - Ramin Bahrani

Best Original Score

Mank - Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Minari - Emile Mosseri

News of the World - James Newton Howard

Promising Young Woman - Anthony Willis

Soul - Jon Batiste

Best Cinematography

Judas and the Black Messiah - Sean Bobbitt

Mank - Erik Messerschmidt

The Mauritanian - Alwin H Küchler

News of the World - Dariusz Wolski

Nomadland - Joshua James Richards

Best Costume Design

Ammonite - Michael O'Connor

The Dig - Alice Babidge

Emma - Alexandra Byrne

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - Ann Roth

Mank - Trish Summerville

Best Editing

The Father - Yorgos Lamprinos

Nomadland - Chloé Zhao

Promising Young Woman - Frédéric Thoraval

Sound of Metal - Mikkel EG Nielsen

The Trial of the Chicago 7 - Alan Baumgarten

Best Production Design

The Dig - Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana Macdonald

The Father - Peter Francis, Cathy Featherstone

Mank - Donald Graham Burt, Jan Pascale

News of the World - David Crank, Elizabeth Keenan

Rebecca - Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer

Best Make-up And Hair

The Dig - Jenny Shircore

Hillbilly Elegy - Patricia Dehaney, Eryn Krueger Mekash, Matthew Mungle

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - Matiki Anoff, Larry M Cherry, Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal

Mank - Kimberley Spiteri, Gigi Williams

Pinocchio - Mark Coulier

Best Sound

Greyhound - nominees TBC

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

Sound of Metal - Jamie Baksht, Nicolas Becker, Phillip Bladh, Carlos Cortes, Michelle Couttolenc

Best Special Visual Effects

Greyhound - Pete Bebb, Nathan McGuinness, Sebastian von Overheidt

The Midnight Sky - Matt Kasmir, Chris Lawrence, David Watkins

Mulan - Sean Faden, Steve Ingram, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury

The One and Only Ivan - Santiago Colomo Martinez, Nick Davis, Greg Fisher

Tenet - Scott Fisher, Andrew Jackson, Andrew Lockley

Best Casting

Calm With Horses - Shaheen Baig

Judas and the Black Messiah - Alexa L Fogel

Minari - Julia Kim

Promising Young Woman - Lindsay Graham Ahanonu, Mary Vernieu

Rocks - Lucy Pardee

Best British Short Film

Eyelash

Lizard

Lucky Break

Miss Curvy

The Present

Best British Short Animation

The Fire Next Time

The Owl and the Pussycat

The Song of A Lost Boy

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