76th British Academy Film Awards facts for kids

The 76th British Academy Film Awards, also known as the BAFAs (or BAFTAs), were held on 19 February 2023, honouring the best national and foreign films of 2022. It was held at the Royal Festival Hall within London's Southbank Centre, the first time since the 69th British Academy Film Awards (2016) that the ceremony was not held at the Royal Albert Hall. The move is part of a new deal between BAFTA and the Southbank Centre, and brought the Film Awards in-line with the British Academy Television Awards and British Academy Games Awards, which are already held there. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, accolades were handed out for the best feature-length film and documentaries of any nationality that were screened at British cinemas in 2022.

The nominations were announced on 19 January 2023 via a global livestream, hosted by actors Hayley Atwell and Toheeb Jimoh, from the arts charity's newly redeveloped HQ at 195 Piccadilly, London. The EE Rising Star Award nominees, which is the only category voted for by the British public, were announced on 17 January 2023.

The German-language epic anti-war drama All Quiet on the Western Front received the most nominations with fourteen, tying the record set by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) as the most nominated non-English language film in the awards' history; The Banshees of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All at Once followed with ten nominations each. The former two are also one of the most nominated titles in BAFTA history, coming second (alongside 2007's Atonement) only to Gandhi (1982), the most nominated film at the BAFTAs with sixteen nods. All Quiet on the Western Front ultimately won the most awards with seven, including Best Film, Best Director (Edward Berger) and Best Film Not in the English Language, followed by The Banshees of Inisherin and Elvis with four apiece. With the aforementioned seven wins, the World War I epic now holds the record for the most BAFTAs for a film not in the English language; the record was previously held by the Italian coming-of-age drama Cinema Paradiso, which claimed five BAFTAs in 1991.

However, the nominations were also notable for largely omitting Avatar: The Way of Water, The Fabelmans and Top Gun: Maverick, frontrunners at several other awards shows, from major categories, and for Bardo, Glass Onion, RRR and Women Talking being completely shut out.

The ceremony was hosted by Swazi-English BAFTA and Academy Award-nominated actor Richard E. Grant while British television personality Alison Hammond hosted from backstage, giving viewers what's billed as an "access-all-areas experience". Additionally, presenters Vick Hope and BBC Radio 1 film critic Ali Plumb hosted the red carpet pre-show. The broadcast aired on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK, and was syndicated globally in eight countries.

Winners and nominees

Edward Berger, Best Director winner, and Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Not in the English Language co-winner

Austin Butler, Best Actor winner

Cate Blanchett, Best Actress winner

Barry Keoghan, Best Supporting Actor winner

Kerry Condon, Best Supporting Actress winner

Martin McDonagh, Best Original Screenplay winner and Outstanding British Film co-winner

Guillermo del Toro, Best Animated Film co-winner

Daniel Roher, Best Documentary co-winner

Catherine Martin, Best Costume Design winner

Volker Bertelmann, Best Original Score winner

Emma Mackey, EE Rising Star Award winner

The BAFTA longlists were unveiled on 6 January 2023, featuring between ten and sixteen nominees in each category. The nominees were announced on 19 January 2023. The winners were announced on 19 February 2023.

BAFTA Fellowship

• Sandy Powell

Awards

Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.

Ceremony information

This year, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts revised its broadcast plans for the film awards. For the first time in its history, the event culminated in a live broadcast of the final four categories. In previous years, the ceremony has been recorded and broadcast as-live on the same day; the broadcast was co-produced by BAFTA and Spun Gold TV. There was also a new backstage studio; the intention gave audiences an "access all areas" experience, complete with VTs from the red carpet and backstage, alongside talent interviews from past and present winners, nominees and presenters. Music performances also featured throughout the broadcast. Former Sky Studios executive and recently appointed BAFTA CEO Jane Millichip commented on the major changes by saying: "The changes we are introducing to the BBC One broadcast of the awards will ensure those audiences will have the best seats in the house. Going live for the last awards of the night will raise anticipation, and our back-stage studio will give viewers exclusive insight into the event and the talent taking part."

BritBox, the world leader in British streaming, once again brought the EE BAFTA Film Awards to BritBox audiences in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, South Africa, Sweden and the United States. BritBox International is expanding its long-running relationship with BAFTA to become the exclusive home of the EE BAFTA Film Awards in eight countries; the simulcast streamed live from London on the service. "At BritBox International, we showcase and celebrate incredible talent, creativity, and storytelling from the UK, every single day, for our viewers," said Reemah Sakaan, CEO of BritBox International. "BritBox and BAFTA share a common vision to celebrate British excellence on screen, and take it out to the world. We are thrilled to be extending our relationship, with live awards coverage of the EE BAFTAs, and red carpet entertainment to the BritBox subscribers in eight countries globally to tune-in and discover their next British obsession." Speaking about the updated show, Emma Baehr, BAFTA Executive Director, Awards & Content, said: "There will be slight changes within the format. You're gonna see more entertainment and a faster pace."

Leading up to the ceremony, Millichip said: "It is an absolute pleasure to welcome so many nominees and film industry guests to the EE BAFTA Film Awards on Sunday. This year's awards are shaping up to be one of our most well attended on record, which is a ringing endorsement of the importance of British audiences to the global film industry, and BAFTA's role in bringing these incredible films and filmmakers to public attention. BAFTA's membership of 7500 industry experts have been voting and I can't wait to find out which names will be read out on the night." Millichip also described All Quiet on the Western Front's fourteen nomination success as an "extraordinary" haul of nominations across craft and performance categories, and that it represents the "mesmerizing" range of this year's nominations. "I think that the breadth of storytelling is really interesting," Millichip said. "So you have big commercial films like Elvis, which has nine nominations, and then indie films like Aftersun. There is also 40% ethnic diversity in our nominees." "The voting members now have no aversion to film not in the English language," she said. "I think that's really interesting and something that you probably see mirrored in streaming viewing as well." Commenting on the changes in voting this year, Millichip said: "When the changes were made in our voting process, the most important thing was to increase the number of films viewed and considered by each voting member. So that simple change has really delivered a lot more diversity and breadth in the films that could go through to the longlist. And then once you get to the longlist, all of the jurors have to watch all of the longlisted films. So at that point, they fill in the gaps."

Additionally, Millichip promised that the review process would be ongoing and constant. "Every year, we will reassess. Every year, we will look again," she told Variety. "This is not a perfect full stop." Millichip said that to get rid of "unconscious bias," BAFTA voters were being encouraged to watch videos aimed at "broadening the mind-set" and making sure that they weren't "unintentionally making systemic assumptions". The academy is striving for "empathy," she added, and "asking people to put themselves in someone else's shoes". In an interview with The New York Times, Millichip acknowledged that "there's always progress to be made" and remarked that she is most pleased with this year's wide-ranging slate of nominees. She also attributes to the new voting adjustment that requires members to see a mandatory number of films in randomly assigned groups before voting — designed to counter both biases in viewing selection and ensure all eligible films are seen by a core number of voters. "I think the new process is actually throwing up another fantastic dimension, which is we're seeing greater breadth in narrative styles and genres as a result of this," Millichip said. "Because the principle of the change was to level the playing field."

A special tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II was led by Dame Helen Mirren. The Queen occupies a unique place in BAFTA's history, a close association that spanned fifty years. Through her various patronages, Elizabeth II was renowned for her support of the UK's creative industries. Mirren also has a close association with the royal, having won an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for her portrayal of her in the biopic The Queen (2006). Ariana DeBose opened the ceremony with a contemporary musical performance, which was ridiculed and panned on social media; the American actress/singer returned to the BAFTA stage following her win for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for West Side Story the previous year. Mercury Prize-winning artist Little Simz also took to the Royal Festival Hall's stage during the ceremony where she performed a track from her album "No Thank You". Alongside guitarist and rock musician Joan Armatrading, Smiz performed a rendition of "Heart on Fire", which was praised by fans on social media.

In a return to tradition, William, Prince of Wales (BAFTA President) and Catherine, Princess of Wales attended this year's ceremony after a two-year hiatus. Prince William has been President of BAFTA since 2010, but this year's ceremony marks his debut at the event as the Prince of Wales, the title he inherited from his father, King Charles III, after he ascended to the throne following Queen Elizabeth II's death on 8 September 2022. This was also one of William and Catherine's first major public appearances since the release of Prince Harry's tell-all book Spare. The mega-selling memoir was the latest chapter in a series of recent public interventions from the Duke of Sussex, that have included allegations of racism and exposed more conflict within the institution. "His Royal Highness has been an incredible supporter of BAFTA since he started as President and patron," Millichip said of William. "We have bursaries in his name, and he shows a real interest in our leveling up and development schemes." Millichip continued to discuss what she described as BAFTA's long-standing association with the royals, citing Queen Elizabeth II's decision to gift the royalties from Richard Cawston's fly-on-the-wall documentary on the family to the Society of Film and Television Arts (a forerunner of BAFTA) in the early 1970s. The donation aided the organization's move to its current headquarters at 195 Piccadilly in London. When asked if the royal family were still an appropriate fit for the awards body, Millichip concluded: "I think the royal family has had an incredibly positive effect on BAFTA over the years and continues to."

The TV broadcast concluded with the live reveal of four categories (in the following order): EE Rising Star Award (presented by Lashana Lynch), Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Best Film. In previous years, the event has been pre-recorded and broadcast with a delay. The ceremony ran from 7:00–9:00 p.m., with a switch to the live broadcast at around 8:30 p.m. thanks to what Millichip described as military-level scheduling from the production team. "The entertainment value of the TV coverage is something that we put a lot of thought into, and we hope the viewing public will enjoy that," Millichip said.

Statistics

In Memoriam

The following people who appeared in the In Memoriam montage are listed here:

See also

In Spanish: Anexo:Premios BAFTA 2022 para niños