‘Conclave’ and ‘Emilia Perez’ top nominations for BAFTAs

Binodon Desk:

“Conclave” and “Emilia Perez” on Wednesday led the shortlist of films battling for recognition at Britain’s BAFTA awards, as the race for Oscars glory gathers pace.

“Conclave”, a fictionalised account of high-stakes horse-trading in the Vatican after the death of a pope, earned 12 nominations while surreal narco-thriller musical “Emilia Perez” followed close behind with 11.

Both will compete for the coveted best film award at next month’s ceremony, alongside Cannes favourite “Anora”, Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown”and epic immigrant drama “The Brutalist”, which notched up nine nominations.

Hit musical “Wicked”, which last week topped the nominations for the influential Screen Actors Guild Awards, and “Dune: Part Two” were the other leading BAFTA contenders, with seven nods each.

Unexpected hit “Kneecap”, a docu-fiction about three Belfast upstarts who rap in the Irish language, racked up six nominations, including for original screenplay, outstanding British film and casting.

It has been longlisted for two Oscars, with the announcement of the final Academy Awards nominations delayed for a second time to January 23 due to the devastating wildfires gripping Los Angeles.

This year’s awards season is seen as highly unpredictable, with an international crop of movies all considered plausible contenders for success on Hollywood’s biggest night on 2 March.

The BAFTAs, the highlight of the annual British film calendar, will this year be held two weeks earlier, on 16 February at London’s Royal Festival Hall and hosted by Scottish actor David Tennant.

The director award pits Audiard against Edward Berger (“Conclave”), Sean Baker (“Anora”), Brady Corbet (“The Brutalist”) Denis Villeneuve (“Dune: Part Two”) and Coralie Fargeat (“The Substance”).

The leading actor award will see Adrien Brody (“The Brutalist”), Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”), Timothee Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”), Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing”), Hugh Grant (“Heretic”) and Sebastian Stan (“The Apprentice”) all compete.

Fiennes, a previous Oscar nominee who won a best supporting actor BAFTA in 1994 for “Schindler’s List”, stars as a cardinal overseeing the election of a new pope in the acclaimed hit “Conclave”.