Priyanka adds glamour to awards as Riz loses Bafta race
THE annual British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) awards were held virtually last Sunday (11), with actor Riz Ahmed losing out on the leading actor category.
Ahmed was nominated for his performance in Sound of Metal, which follows a drummer who begins to lose his hearing. Veteran star Anthony Hopkins instead took the Leading Actor prize for his role in The Father.
Sound of Metal, however, won the Best Editing gong.
American recession drama Nomadland, about a community of van dwellers, was the big winner at the Baftas, scooping Best Film and prizes for its Chinese-born director Chloe Zhao and Leading Actress Frances McDormand.
Daniel Kaluuya, who has swept this awards season for his portrayal of late Black Panther activist Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah, won Supporting Actor.
Youn Yuh-Jung won Supporting Actress for Minari, in which she plays a grandmother who travels from South Korea to the United States to look after her grandchildren.
The Life of Pi director Ang Lee received the Bafta Fellowship, the academy’s top honour, for his contribution to film.
Although nominees joined in by video due to the ongoing
Covid-19 pandemic, film stars Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Hugh Grant appeared in person at London’s Royal Albert Hall to present the awards. The ceremony was held virtually over two nights.
The academy also paid tribute to the Duke of Edinburgh, who died last Friday (9), at the age of 99. Prince Phillip was named Bafta’s first president in 1959, while his grandson Prince William is the academy’s current president.
Following an outcry last year when Bafta presented an all-white acting contenders list, more than half of this year’s 24 nominees were actors of colour.