Conclave, a film about a gossipy and scheming group of cardinals who gather in Rome to elect a new Pope, leads this year’s Bafta film award nominations with 12 nods.
It is followed closely by Netflix’s Spanish-language musical Emilia Pérez, which tells the story of a Mexican cartel leader who leaves the world of crime to live a new live as a transgender woman.
The frontrunners in the Bafta acting categories include Cynthia Erivo and Demi Moore for lead actress and Adrien Brody and Timothee Chalamet for lead actor.
But Denzel Washington and Daniel Craig failed to make the shortlist for Gladiator II and Queer respectively.
Hugh Grant’s nomination in the lead actor category for horror film Heretic, and Saoirse Ronan as leading actress for The Outrun, are among some of the surprises.
Jamie Lee Curtis is nominated in the supporting actress category for The Last Showgirl, but the film’s main actress Pamela Anderson, who plays an ageing Las Vegas performer, missed out on a nomination.
The leading films in the Bafta nominations
12 nominations – Conclave
11 – Emilia Pérez
9 – The Brutalist
7 – Anora, Dune: Part Two and Wicked
6 – A Complete Unknown and Kneecap
5 – Nosferatu and The Substance
Another film tipped for success in the current awards season is Anora, which has seven Bafta nominations including best film.
It follows the whirlwind romance between a New York sex worker and the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch.
Mikey Madison is nominated as leading actress and is also up for the rising star award, which is voted for by the public.
Her co-star Yura Borisov is nominated for best supporting actor, and director Sean Baker has his first Bafta best director nomination.
Half of those nominated in the best director category are first-time nominees and also include The Brutalist’s Brady Corbet, who won the same award at the Golden Globes.
The film, about a Hungarian architect who is hired by a wealthy American after World War Two, has nine nods in total and is also tipped to be e big contender at the Oscars.
The Substance director Coralie Fargeat is another first-time directing nominee and is the only female nominated in the category.
Demi Moore is nominated for best actress for the film, weeks after winning at the Golden Globes – putting her in a strong position for the Oscars.
British actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s nomination in the same category for playing an irritable woman struggling with depression in Hard Truths has boosted momentum for her to receive an Oscar nomination.
The Bafta shortlist is often a strong indicator for the Oscars, and last year the winners of the top six categories matched perfectly at the two ceremonies.
Another Oscar-tipped film is A Complete Unknown, which follows Bob Dylan’s rise to fame in the 1960s.
It has six Bafta nominations including best film, with Timothee Chalamet and Edward Norton nominated in acting categories.
Blockbuster films have faired relatively well in the nominations, with Dune: Part Two and Wicked each receiving seven nods.
Gladiator II has three nominations – but none are in the acting categories, with Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Washington all missing out. Director Sir Ridley Scott was also overlooked.
Erivo and Wicked co-star Ariana Grande have their first Bafta nominations – but Wicked missed out on a nomination for best film.
Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña and Karla Sofía Gascón have all also received their first Bafta nominations, for Emilia Pérez.
For the first time, children’s and family films have their own dedicated category at the awards.
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and The Wild Robot are nominated alongside the adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s Kensuke’s Kingdom, and Flow, about animals who must work together to survive following a flood.
The dialogue-free film was a surprise winner at the Golden Globes in the animated feature category.
The Bafta Film Awards, hosted by David Tennant, will take place on 16 February at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
Read more about this year’s nominated films:
