- Emilia Pérez and Conclave lead in longlist
- Donald Trump film surprises
- Denzel Washington could get first ever nomination
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced the results of round one of voting across all 25 categories for the 2025 EE BAFTA Film Awards, revealing the longlist of films and talent that will go through to round two.
Universal leads the pack this year, with 18 more mentions than any other distributor – it has 42 in total.
What are the standout mentions?
Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez is the most listed title. The Spanish-language musical, which was picked up by Netflix in Cannes, is in 15 categories, including best film, director, leading actress and three in the supporting actress list.
Conclave, Edward Berger’s thriller set in the Vatican, follows with 14 mentions, including leading actor and supporting actor for Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci, respectively.
Read more: When are the BAFTAs happening?
Joint third with 11 mentions is Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, The Brutalist, and The Substance. Wicked and Dune: Part Two picked up 10 mentions, and Anora follows, being honored with nine mentions on the longlist, including for leading actress Mikey Madison.
Gladiator 2 also got listed in 9 categories, but Ridley Scott missed out on best director and there was no mention for its leading man Paul Mescal either – just weeks after he was also overlooked for the Golden Globes shortlists.
All the above mentioned films got selected for best film, except for Gladiator 2, but it’s not all doom and gloom for Scott’s sequel, as Denzel Washington – who has never been BAFTA-nominated before – did get a supporting actor slot.
BAFTA Surprise Mentions & Omissions
Perhaps the biggest surprise was the success of Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice – making six BAFTA longlists, including best film. The film based on Donald Trump’s ascension in the world of real-estate failed to make an impact at the North American box office, but has caught the attention of BAFTA voters and is longlisted for 6 categories, including best film, best original screenplay and leading actor for Sebastian Stan.
Both Maria and Pedro Almodovar’s Venice Golden Lion-winner The Room Next Door received no love at all, with zero mentions, which comes as a surprise being that the leading actresses from both films, Angeline Jolie and Tilda Swinton received Golden Globe best actress nominations.
Elsewhere, other films that have been overlooked for best film are Malcolm Washington’s adaptation of the August Wilson stage play The Piano Lesson and Nickel Boys, the latter being only longlisted the adapted screenplay category. Both films are picking up multiple nominations from US awards, however.
A new addition for BAFTA this year is the Children’s and Family film category, but it’s unexpected not to see Paddington in Peru listed in a category dominated by animated films. Other titles such as The Wild Robot, That Christmas and Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl got mentions.
Read more: Who is hosting the BAFTAs 2025?
BAFTA Film Committee Chair, Anna Higgs, said: “Huge congratulations to the 80 feature films that have been longlisted today, it is an incredible achievement to progress from 235 movies under consideration in this year’s EE BAFTA Film Awards. It’s been an exceptional year for filmmaking featuring bold creative voices and inspiring stories from independent films to global blockbusters, highlighting the incredible breadth of talent working in our industry today…our BAFTA voters now have the unenviable task of deciding which of these films will make it onto the nominations list.”
The full longlist has now gone into round two of voting and round three will determine the winners, with the official nominations announced on Wednesday, 15 January, 2025 at 7am ET.
