BAFTA Rule Changes Leave Awards in Flux

variety.com:

Guy Lodge Film CriticThe BAFTAs had a challenging year in 2021, ricocheting among progress, stasis and scandal, and ending up somewhere in the middle.

Their mission, following an outcry over the previous year’s white ceremony — with no acting nominees of color, no women up for the director prize, and Sam Mendes’ “1917” prevailing over Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” in the major races — was to diversify the awards, and fast.

This year’s film ceremony is set for March 13 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.To that end, drastic changes were made, with the performance and directing categories handed over to small nomination committees (including some nonBAFTA members) who could curate more eclectic, progressive nominee fields from the branchvoted longlists.

The fix was immediately effective, as BAFTA revealed a fresh, surprising and suitably diverse slate. Suddenly, two-thirds of the acting nominees were performers of color, including homegrown talents — Wunmi Mosaku and Bukky Bakray — who were far outside the Oscar conversation that BAFTA traditionally mirrors, while buzzy favorites such as Carey Mulligan and Olivia Colman were left out.