How BAFTA approaches its range downside
After a successful award in 2021, BAFTA's Krishnendu Majumdar and Anna Higgs discuss how the academy improves the playing field for everyone – and what other awards can learn from their example
Think back to that time last year and you may recall a particularly damaging piece of news about one of the most important events on the movie calendar, the BAFTAs. The awards show faced a violent backlash after failing to identify a single non-white lead actor on its 2020 nomination list. #BaftasSoWhite quickly tended to social and prominent industry insiders who spoke out against the lack of diversity.
A year later, the results of the 2021 Awards look significantly different. Chinese-born filmmaker Chloé Zhao's docudrama Nomadland won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress for Frances McDormand's role. Emerald Fennell's rape revenge nightmare Promising Young Woman took home the best original script and standout British film. and Bukky Bakray, the real school girl who starred in the social-realistic adventure Rocks, was named a worthy winner of this year's Rising Star Award.
The systemic problems with awards are not just a BAFTA problem. The debate about the need for stronger representation has been raging throughout the creative industry for several years. It wasn't until February that the Golden Globes were the subject of a social media storm after they completely wrecked Michaela Coel's earth-shaking series I May Destroy You – one of the writers of Netflix's' not-so-groundbreaking contestant Emily in Paris, who talked about the Book wrote injustice of the result.
BAFTA's rising star in 2021, Bukky Bakray
BAFTA's journey to unpacking its diversity problem began in 2018 when it announced that filmmakers will need to demonstrate that they have worked to increase the representation of underrepresented groups in order to qualify for the awards. Under the rule of producer director Krishnendu Majumdar – the first black person to be appointed chairman in the 73-year history of the academy – this work was accelerated enormously in the past year.