By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
LONDON (Reuters) -A German remake of the anti-war classic “All Quiet On The Western Front” led nominations for the British Academy Film Awards on Thursday, overtaking other award season favourites with 14 nods.
Based on the epic 1928 novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque about the horrors of conflict during World War One, the Netflix movie was recognised in the best film category, as well as for films not in the English language, director, supporting actor, adapted screenplay, original score and other craft and technical prizes.
It equals 2001’s “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” as a film not in the English language that has garnered the most nominations in BAFTA’s history, organisers said.
“It’s really exciting because it shows that cinema viewers and our voting members are watching a broader range of films,” Anna Higgs, chair of the BAFTA Film Committee, told Reuters.
“We’re really getting to a stage where subtitles aren’t considered scary anymore and actually the power of cinema can communicate across borders and cultures.”
The last non-English language movie that won the BAFTA best film prize was Netflix’s “Roma” in 2019.
Dark comedy “The Banshees of Inisherin” and the dimension-hopping “Everything Everywhere All At Once” each secured 10 nominations.
“Banshees”, a tale of two feuding friends on a remote island off the coast of Ireland, received nominations for leading actor Colin Farrell as well as supporting cast members Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon.
That film and Steven Spielberg’s coming-of-age story “The Fabelmans” were the two big winners at the Golden Globes earlier this month, but the latter received just one BAFTA nod, for original screenplay.
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” secured nominations for leading actress Michelle Yeoh, supporting actress Jamie Lee Curtis and supporting actor Ke Huy Quan, as well as for best film, original screenplay and director for Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.
Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic “Elvis” came in third with nine nominations, including best film and a leading actor recognition for Austin Butler.
Drama “Tar”, in which Cate Blanchett plays a gay conductor of a Berlin orchestra whose career comes tumbling down due to an abuse scandal, had five nods, including best film, director, original screenplay and leading actress.
Box office hits “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “Top Gun: Maverick” received nominations in technical categories.
Gina Prince-Bythewood (“The Woman King”) is the only woman in the running for the director award, but the outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer category features all female nominees.
Known as the BAFTAs (British Academy of Film and Television Arts), Britain’s top movie honours will be awarded on Feb. 19 in London.
For a FACTBOX of the main nominations, click [L8N3442R0]
(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Additional reporting by Sarah Mills and Natasha Mulenga; Editing by Jon Boyle and Bernadette Baum)
