As Executive Director of Awards and Content, Jane Millichip, CEO of Bafta, praised the ‘diversity’ of this year’s Bafta nominations. Emma Baehr supports only one woman being nominated for best director.
Millichip, who was recently appointed CEO of the famed arts organisation, joyfully unveiled the 2023 Bafta nominees on Thursday, praising the ‘whole range of artistry and imagination that go into filmmaking.’
There are several first-time nominees among the 2023 nominees, including Colin Farrell for Banshees of Inisherin, Ana De Armas for Blonde, Ke Huy Quan for Everything Everywhere All At Once, and Paul Mescal for Aftersun.
It is also a record-breaking offer for All Quiet on the Western Front, which tied with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2001 for the most nominations for a non-English language film with 14.
Martin McDonagh for Banshees of Inisherin, Park Chan-wook for Decision to Leave, Todd Field for Tár, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for Everything Everywhere All At Once, Edward Berger for All Quiet on the Western Front, and Gina Prince-Bythewood for The Woman King are among the six nominees for best director.
Prince-Bythewood is the only female filmmaker nominated in the category, and Executive Director Baehr addressed this directly to Metro.co.uk as the nominations were announced, as well as how female directors were represented in many other categories.
‘I think it’s worth noting in the director’s category, that although there’s only one female there, across all categories there are 11 female directors nominated today,’ she said.
‘Whether that’s in animated film, film not in the English language, the debut categories etcetera, we are seeing female directors nominated across those categories.’
Millichip, the head of the Baftas, agreed, calling the 2023 event a “wonderful year for variety and breadth of submissions.”
‘We’re really pleased from that perspective. Our voting is done by our members and there are 7,500 voting members at Bafta – so all of our awards are peer recognition, which is really important.’
‘And we’re really pleased that in our performance categories, 40% of our nominees are ethnically diverse, and a good representation in age as well’ she added.
‘Breadth and depth is really important this year, I think.’
Women made almost half of the candidates last year and outnumbered men four to two in 2021, therefore the 2023 director category is a step down from previous years.
It follows a backlash in 2019 when no women were nominated for director, a position with only three female winners in its 75-year history: Kathryn Bigelow in 2010, Chloe Zhao in 2021, and Jane Campion in 2022.
Previous Bafta CEO Amanda Berry apologised in 2020 after no one of colour was nominated in any of the male or female acting categories, with 18 white stars nominated for best actor, best actress, best supporting actor, and best supporting actress.
The 2023 Brit Awards are also under fire since no women are nominated in the prestigious artist of the year category, with five male performers contending for the accolade.
‘It’s interesting, just in the best film category what you have are big, commercial blockbusters like Elvis with nine nominations across the categories, then a German anti-war film in All Quiet.’ Millichip said of this year’s Baftas’ diversity of narrative and genres.
Bafta 2023: Full list of nominations
Best film
All Quiet On The Western Front
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Tár
Outstanding British film
Aftersun
The Banshees of Inisherin
Brian and Charles
Empire of Light
Good Luck To You, Leo Grande
Living
Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical
See How They Run
The Swimmers
The Wonder
Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer
Aftersun, Charlotte Wells (Writer/Director)
Blue Jean, Georgia Oakley (Writer/Director), Hélène Sifre (Producer)
Electric Malady, Marie Lidén (Director)
Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, Katy Brand (Writer)
Rebellion, Maia Kenworthy (Director)
Film not in the English language
All Quiet on the Western Front
Argentina
Corsage
Decision to Leave
The Quiet Girl
Documentary
All That Breathes
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Fire of Love
Moonage Daydream
Navalny
Animated film
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Marcel the Shell with Shoes on
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish
Turning Red
Director
All Quiet on the Western Front, Edward Berger
The Banshees of Inisherin Martin McDonagh
Decision to Leave, Park Chan-wook
Everything Everywhere All At Once, Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
Tár, Todd Field
The Woman King, Gina Prince-Bythewood
Original Screenplay
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All At Once
The Fabelmans
Tár
Triangle of Sadness
Adapted Screenplay
All Quiet on the Western Front
Living
The Quiet Girl
She Said
The Whale
Leading Actress
Cate Blanchett, Tár
Viola Davis, The Woman King
Danielle Deadwyler, Til
Ana De Armas, Blonde
Emma Thompson, Good Luck To You, Leo Grande
Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All At Once
Leading actor
Austin Butler, Elvis
Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Daryl McCormack, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Paul Mescal, Aftersun
Bill Nighy, Living
Supporting Actress
Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Hong Chau, The Whale
Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
Dolly De Leon, Triangle of Sadness
Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All At Once
Carey Mulligan, She Said
Supporting actor
Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin
Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin
Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All At Once
Eddie Redmayne, The Good Nurse
Albrecht Schuch, All Quiet on the Western Front
Micheal Ward, Empire of Light
Original score
All Quiet on the Western Front
Babylon
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
Casting
Aftersun
All Quiet on the Western Front
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Triangle of Sadness
Cinematography
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Batman
Elvis
Empire of Light
Top Gun: Maverick
Editing
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Top Gun: Maverick
Production design
All Quiet on the Western Front
Babylon
The Batman
Elvis
Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio
Costume design
All Quiet on the Western Front
Amsterdam
Babylon
Elvis
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris
Makeup & hair
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Batman
Elvis
Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical
The Whale
Sound
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
Elvis
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
Special Visual Effects
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Batman
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Top Gun: Maverick
British short animation
The Boy the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Middle Watch
Your Mountain is Waiting
British short film
The Ballad of Olive Morris
Bazigaga
Bus Girl
A Drifting Up
An Irish Goodbye
EE rising star award
Aimee Lou Wood
Daryl McCormack
Emma Mackey
Naomi Ackie
Sheila Atim
‘Banshees is an intimate period film, a portrait of friendship, then there’s an abuse of power story through Tár – there’s a real blend and variety in narrative styles even in that best film category, including a good mix of commercial and indie. I think it’s a strong year for breadth of voice, breadth of tone.’
A total of 45 films were nominated across different categories, from Guillermo Del Toro’s animated masterpiece Pinnochio to Irish language tearjerker An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl).
And incredibly, of the 24 actors nominated for a Bafta Film award for their work in 2022, a whopping 14 of them are first-time nominees, having never been tipped before.
The full list of nominations comes after Sheila Atim, Naomi Ackie, Daryl McCormack, Emma Mackey and Aimee Lou Wood were announced as the nominees for the EE rising star award, the only award voted for by the public.
The Bafta Film Awards 2023 will air on BBC One on Sunday, February 19 from 7pm
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