I have honestly never heard of the "Baftas" (British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards), the British Oscars. I mean, I knew the British must have an Oscars, but I didn't know what they were called, nor have I ever taken note of them. But I am trying to expand my personal purview to the global, or at least trans-Anglo, so here's the BBC on the Baftas:
- Some of Hollywood's biggest stars are due in London on Sunday for the Baftas, the UK entertainment world's most prestigious night of the year.
Among the A-list actors expected on the red carpet are Uma Thurman, Jude Law, Scarlett Johansson and Renee Zellweger.
US civil war epic Cold Mountain leads the field with 13 nominations, followed by The Return of the King which has 12.
....Other stars expected at The Odeon cinema in London's Leicester Square include Holly Hunter, Benicio Del Toro, Laura Linney, Sir Ian McKellen, Bill Nighy, Emma Thompson, Naomi Watts and Tim Robbins.
Directors due to attend include Cold Mountain's Anthony Minghella and Rings maestro Peter Jackson, as well as Tim Burton, Sofia Coppola and Richard Curtis.
....Challenging Cold Mountain and the third Lord of the Rings movie for best film are Peter Weir's epic seafaring tale Master and Commander, starring Russell Crowe; Sofia Coppola's low-key comedy Lost in Translation featuring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson; and the Tim Burton fantasy Big Fish, starring Ewan McGregor.
....Unusually, Sean Penn and Scarlett Johansson have two nominations each in the best actor and actress categories
Penn is nominated for his roles in dramas Mystic River and 21 Grams, and is up against Benicio Del Toro, Bill Murray and Johnny Depp.
Newcomer Johansson, 19, is shortlisted for Girl with a Pearl Earring and Lost in Translation.
Also up for best actress are Anne Reid for The Mother, Naomi Watts for 21 Grams and Uma Thurman for Kill Bill.
The nominations are:
Best Film
Nominees:
Big Fish (2003)
Cold Mountain (2003)
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The (2003)
Lost in Translation (2003)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Alexander Korda Award for Outstanding British Film of the Year
Nominees:
Cold Mountain (2003)
Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)
In This World (2002)
Love Actually (2003)
Touching the Void (2003)
Best Actor
Nominees:
Benicio Del Toro for 21 Grams (2003)
Johnny Depp for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
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Article comments
1 - Chris Kent
I have never heard of the Baftas either. I think the Canadians have a film award called the Genie.
British filmmaking was much more prominent during the 1960s and 1970s, but I don't hear too often about great films coming out of that industry today - though every once in a while I catch something terrific with Bob Hoskins or Maggie Smith or Helen Mirren (Helen, would you please marry me?).....
2 - Ms. Tek
=( There are some great films there.
Also, out of Scotland.
The problem with the Scottish films is that they sometimes have to put captions on it because the accents can be VERY hard to understand if you have not lived there for a bit.
I rented "The Acid House" (which wasn't that great save for one part of it) and was watching it with a friend. He could not get a word of it and I could (then again, I am in Scotland a lot). We had to turn on the captioning so he could follow what was being said.
3 - Chris Kent
I notice the nominees for the Baftas mirror the Academy Awards. Wouldn't it be beneficial for the Baftas to nominate British films only, therefore promoting the British film industry?
4 - Ms. Tek
The British Flim Industry just doesn't make as many films per year as the United States or Inida per year. They just don't have the budget.
Another thing you will notice is that will most all of the British awards... music, movies, etc... they tend to take a more international view towards things. They'll have Americans, French, Swedish, etc, nominated in categories. They usually will have a few that are British only... but the rest is all open.
As far as British films or other countries being released here... Most just would not work. The American mind when it comes to humor, drama, etc... is VERY differnet than the British one.
The best example I can give is soap operas.
Here in the US, on the soaps, everyone is rich, everyone is someone's evil twin, everyone is always getting married.
In the UK, everyone is mostly poor, they sleep around, but mostly get into fights in the pub or in the stable. Very everyday things. (There is a Scottish one, I THINK its call Riverside... the last I saw it, a "Ned" (uneducated, teenaged, thug, speaks, Scots funnny, dresses in shell suits, trainers, gold chains, baseball cap) was trying to see this girl who was Indian and her family didn't approve.
Aussie Soaps: Not rich, not poor... more middle class... Didn't notice so much cheaping on spouses, but did notice a lot of misunderstandings and people's "pasts" coming up. More interesting to me than the British ones.
5 - Pappy
The BAFTAS, huh? Interesting...
GOOD:
I like the fact they have Scarlett Johansson nominated twice for Best Actress, for 2 good films. Here in America the distributors were pushing for Johansson to be nominated as Best Supporting Actress for Lost in Translation, although its a leading role (They figured the academy would never give her a nomination for best actress for that movie).
BAD:
Finding Nemo up for best original screenplay???? ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? The screenplay for Nemo stinks. It's the worst part of the film. It's predictable and sappy. The good parts of "Nemo" are the visuals (of course), and perhaps the voices and the score. If anything, the BAFTAS should have given the nod to a REALLY good original screenplay, like "Thirteen", etc...
Oh well...this proves, yet again, there is only ONE good set of the movie awards to look forward to:
The INDEPENDENT SPIRIT Awards. There is none better.
6 - Chris Kent
I personally think the line between what is an independent film and non-independent film blurs more every year. I liked "Thirteen" and found it to be a brave and thought-provoking film. As to whether or not is deserves major nominations (of which the Baftas most certainly are not) I would argue....
7 - Eric Olsen
Bafta winners here.