‘Nomadland’ racks up wins
Gig-economy Western “Nomadland” won four prizes, including best picture, Sunday at the British Academy Film Awards, which were handed out during a pandemic-curbed ceremony that recognized a diverse array of screen talent.
“Nomadland” filmmaker Chloe Zhao became only the second woman, and the first woman of color, to win the BAFTA for best director, and star Frances McDormand was named best actress. “Nomadland” also took the cinematography prize.
Emerald Fennell’s revenge comedy “Promising Young Woman” was named best British film, while the best actor trophy went to 83-year-old Anthony Hopkins for playing a man grappling with dementia in “The Father.”
An event that was criticized in the recent past with the label #BAFTAsSoWhite rewarded a diverse group of talents, including Black British star Daniel Kaluuya, newcomer Bukky Bakray — who shone as a London teenager in “Rocks” — and veteran Korean actress YuhJung Youn.
Presenters, including Hugh Grant, Tom Hiddleston, Gugu MbathaRaw and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, announced the winners from the stage of London’s Royal Albert Hall, but recipients accepted their honors remotely, and there was no black-tie audience to cheer them on.
Director Remi Weekes, who won the British debut prize for his first feature, “His House,” noted the surreal sensation of accepting the award while sitting in his living room in a tuxedo.
“Nomadland” stars McDormand as a middle-aged woman who travels the American West while living out of her van and picking up short-term work.
Zhao, who lived among real American travelers for the film, thanked “the nomadic community who so generously welcomed us into their lives.”
“How we treat our elders says a lot about who we are as a society, and we need to do better,” she said.
The only previous female directing winner was Kathryn Bigelow in 2010 for “The Hurt Locker.”
The British film academy expanded its voting membership and shook up its rules last year in an attempt to address a glaring lack of diversity in the nominations. In 2020, no women were nominated as best director for a seventh consecutive year, and all 20 nominees in the lead and supporting performer categories were white.
Under new rules that, among other things, made watching all long-listed films compulsory for academy voters, this year’s slate of acting nominees was strikingly more diverse, and four of the six filmmakers nominated for best director were women: Zhao, Sarah Gavron (“Rocks”), Shannon Murphy (“Babyteeth”) and Jasmila Zbanic (“Quo Vadis, Aida?”).
Asked what her directing prize meant for Asian women in film, Zhao said: “If this means more people like me get to live their dreams, then I feel very grateful.”
BAFTA chief executive Amanda Berry said the academy was “determined to make change.”