Oscars bellwether, British awards or both? The identity dilemma facing the Baftas

Oscars bellwether, British awards or both? The identity dilemma facing the Baftas Few UK nominations this year as industry tries to balance attracting global attention and celebrating homegrown projects I t may be billed as Britain’s premier film awards, but when nominations for the Baftas were announced last month, the lack of British representation in the top categories was hard to ignore. Just one British actor, Robert Aramayo, appeared in the leading actor category, while there were no British nominees at all for leading actress (the UK-based Irish actor Jessie Buckley notwithstanding). Peter Mullan was the only Briton in the supporting actor category, while representation for best supporting actress fared better, with Emily Watson, Carey Mulligan and Wunmi Mosaku nominated. The awards, announced on Sunday, are shaping up as one of the most competitive in years. Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another leads the field across several categories, with Hamnet and Ryan Coogler’s vampire thriller Sinners emerging as its closest challengers. Experts predict Hamnet may benefit from a home-crowd advantage , but the question heading into Sunday is whether it can realistically topple One Battle After Another – or whether Bafta will once again position itself less as a national awards body than an international bellwether for the Oscars. Last year, Conclave swept the competition, beating buzzy international contenders such as The Brutalist and Anora. In other years, widely celebrated British films including Aftersun, All of Us Strangers and The Zone of Interest have failed to break into the best film category – a pattern that continues to complicate the Baftas’ sense of identity and purpose. “Hollywood has officially gentrified the UK awards. At this point, just rename it Oscars: London Branch,” said one X user . The film critic Guy Lodge, writing in Variety , argued that Bafta should “fly its own flag a little higher”. For the Bafta-winning producer Rebecca O’Brien...