The76th British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as theBAFTAs, were held on 19 February 2023, honouring the best national and foreign films of2022, at theRoyal Festival Hall withinLondon'sSouthbank Centre.[1][2] Presented by theBritish 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 globallivestream, hosted by actorsHayley Atwell andToheeb Jimoh, from the arts charity's newly redeveloped HQ at 195 Piccadilly, London.[3][4][5] TheRising Star Award nominees, which is the only category voted for by the British public, were announced on 17 January 2023.[6]
The BAFTA longlists were unveiled on 6 January 2023, featuring between ten and sixteen nominees in each category.[3][14][15] The nominees were announced on 19 January 2023.[16] The winners were announced on 19 February 2023.[17]
The format of this awards ceremony was altered somewhat by theBritish Academy of Film and Television Arts, with the inclusion of alive broadcast of the awards for the final four categories rather than the pre-recorded format used in previous years. There was also a backstage studio for interviews with winners, nominees and others, and various music performances during the broadcast.[11] The broadcast was streamed live byBritBox in eight other countries: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, and the United States.[13]
Across all categories, German war filmAll Quiet on the Western Front achieved the most nominations, with fourteen; it was not the only foreign language film to receive major nominations, with this suggested to be reflective of a similar change in consumption of non-English media.[19]All Quiet on the Western Front tied with 2000'sCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in being the most nominated non-English film in BAFTA history; both films also tie with 2007'sAtonement as the second-most nominated films ever behind 1982'sGandhi, which received sixteen nominations.[20][21][22][23] In addition, mixed-language filmsThe Banshees of Inisherin andEverything Everywhere All at Once each received ten nominations, this year's second-most total.[20][21] Media noted that the nominations largely omitted some films that were seeing success at other award shows, includingAvatar: The Way of Water,The Fabelmans andTop Gun: Maverick, with other popular films being completely shut out.[24][25][26]
By intention, the nominated films in 2023 were diverse in both scale and talent: multiple nominations were given to both Hollywood blockbusters and regional indie films, while there was also "40% ethnicdiversity in [the] nominees". There had been 120 changes made to the voting process for the 2023 Awards, notably expanding the longlist and making jurors watch a certain percentage of the films on it, as well as randomly assigning required viewing to counter bias in the selection of films voters watch, and adding 1,000 new BAFTA members from underrepresented backgrounds.[19][27][28][29][30] BAFTA CEO Jane Millichip indicated that there may be future changes to the voting process, saying that it will be reviewed and reassessed each year.[31]
In the week before the ceremony took place, Bulgarian journalistChristo Grozev, who had played a key role in the nominated documentaryNavalny, which wonBest Documentary, said he had been banned from attending due to being a "security risk".[32] The film's producers instead paid tribute to him when they collected the award.[33]
After a two-year in-person absence, BAFTA presidentWilliam, Prince of Wales and his wife,Catherine, Princess of Wales, attended the ceremony.[35][36][37] Following thedeath of the Queen, Millichip was asked if theroyal family were still an appropriate fit for the awards body; in answering, she mentionedElizabeth II's decision to gift the royalties from a documentary on the family to BAFTA forerunner, the Society of Film and Television Arts, in the early 1970s, aiding its move to its current headquarters, and concluded: "I think the royal family has had an incredibly positive effect on BAFTA over the years and continues to."[38]
During the award presentation of Best Actress in a Supporting Role,Carey Mulligan was initially announced as the winner instead of actual winnerKerry Condon, after a mistake in the interpretation of presenterTroy Kotsur's sign language; this was heavily edited out of the television broadcast.[39]
The broadcast concluded with live coverage of four categories (in the following order):Rising Star,Best Actor in a Leading Role,Best Actress in a Leading Role, andBest Film. The ceremony ran from 7:00 p.m to 9:00 p.m. with a switch from pre-recorded to live broadcast at around 8:30 p.m.[11][34][38]All Quiet on the Western Front won Best Film, as well as taking the most awards, with seven; "We've been blessed with so many nominations and winning this is just incredible," said producerMalte Grunert while accepting the award on stage.The Banshees of Inisherin andElvis followed with four awards each, but eventually lost all of their nominations at the95th Academy Awards.Everything Everywhere All at Once, the eventual dominant winner at theAcademy Awards, only won one award:Best Editing.[7][40][41][42] With its seven wins,All Quiet on the Western Front achieved a new record for the most BAFTAs for a film not in the English language; the record was previously held byCinema Paradiso, which won five BAFTAs in1991.[43]
Following the event, DeBose deactivated herTwitter account, but continued to react positively to references about the performance.[60] Show producer Nick Bullen said that criticism towards DeBose was "incredibly unfair", going on to say that she opened the show with "some energy [and] some fun".[58] "Angela Bassett did the thing" was widely quoted by many as a stand-out quote from the rap. The true meaning of "the thing" is unknown, withBBC News saying the vagueness of the lyric contributed to its success, allowing it to be "endlessly adapted for any person and any situation".[59] American singer and rapperLizzo quoted the line during a performance on the European leg of herSpecial Tour, as didAdele during her "Weekends with Adele" residency.[53][61][62] The opening number was later announced as the winner of "Best TV Musical Performance" at the 15thDorian TV Awards, given by GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, on 26 June.[63]
The reception was mixed, withsocial media being largely responsible for the virality of the piece.[51] Many of those name-checked in the rap praised the performance.Angela Bassett mentioned the piece during an acceptance speech at the54th NAACP Image Awards on 25 February 2023, following her win forEntertainer of the Year, jokingly saying: "I guess Angela Bassett did the thing!"[64]
Jamie Lee Curtis also defended DeBose and the piece, respectively, by saying that "she's fantastic" and that it was a "joyous, celebratory, sisterly, hot, spicy" performance.[65] Stuart Heritage ofThe Guardian prefaced a lyric-by-lyric analysis of the performance by calling it "so gormless, so busy [&] so deeply and unsettlingly confusing".[66] Conversely, Raven Smith ofBritish Vogue praised the piece, calling it "hypnotic".[57]
Despite thediversity in nominations, the winners were all white, something criticised onsocial media and by activist journalists, with grievances particularly directed at a photograph of all the winners on stage together, with black co-hostAlison Hammond the only non-white person in it.[28][29][30] SomeTwitter users began utilising the hashtag "BaftasSoWhite", akin to the"OscarsSoWhite" hashtag, whichtrended when there were no non-white performers nominated at the87th and88th Academy Awards in 2015 and 2016, respectively. No BAFTA winner from this edition in the film acting categories, however, won at theAcademy Awards andScreen Actors Guild Awards during this same year despite all of the combined winners having been nominated across the aforementioned award ceremonies.[67][68][69]
.jpg)
%2c_Olivia_Dejonge%2c_Austin_Butler%2cTom_Hanks_(52123990193)_(cropped)2.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Ariana DeBosecelebrates female nominees at the 76th British Academy Film Awards