My beef with BAFTA: you’ve snubbed us, again!
THE BAFTA awards are being dished out on Sunday evening, with the Outstanding British Film category this year expanded to ten nominations.
Sadly, only one of the ten also makes it into the overall Best Film selection.
And by way of double disappointment, that film — The Father, a harrowing dementia drama starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman — is not due to be released here until June.
It is by no means unprecedented for awards to take place before audiences have the chance to see all the films nominated, but my own feeling is that it should never be allowed to happen.
Why should the organisers of film awards expect the support of the public while denying them an opinion?
Moreover, this year, as never before, major releases are being made available on video- ondemand platforms. I can see why some distributors want to wait until cinemas re-open before sending out their wares, but in that case, let their movies await next year’s gongs.
My other beef with BAFTA in particular is that they lack the courage of their convictions. Why is only one British picture judged ‘ outstanding’ allowed to contend for the more prestigious Best Film prize? As usual, BAFTA are using ‘ Outstanding British’ as a get-out, to honour the productions they are not brave enough to elevate. The Netflix film The Dig, such a charmer yet so emphatically overlooked in the Academy Awards shortlists, should surely have supplanted The Trial Of The Chicago 7, Aaron Sorkin’s liberal (and indeed liberally overwritten) civil rights drama.
If you still haven’t seen The Dig, it’s an absolute treat: a gorgeous account of how the Sutton Hoo Anglo-Saxon treasure hoard was unearthed in 1939. It stars Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan (pictured) both inexplicably overlooked by BAFTA in Sunday’s acting categories.
Still, at least they’ve done the right thing by little-known lead actress Bukky Bakray, director Sarah Gavron and everyone involved in Rocks, one of my other favourite films (note, not ‘British’ films) of the past 12 months.