The Baftas face criticism over all-white winners list
The British BAFTA awards have come under scrutiny after audiences realised that all the winners of each category at the ceremony were white.
Despite a diverse range of nominees in acting categories, with ethnic minorities taking almost 40% of the slots, none of the 49 winners at the ceremony reflected this. Whilst Michelle Yeoh was a favourite to take home the award for her performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once, it was Cate Blanchett who took home the gold for her role in Tár. Similarly, Hong Chau also missed out on a Bafta for The Whale in favour of The Banshees of Inisherin’s Kerry Condon.
Speaking about the “quite depressing” cast of winners, the director of consultancy at the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity, Marcus Ryder, stated (via BBC): “Ten years ago, in 2013, Lenny Henry made headlines at the TV Baftas when he labelled it as ‘All white on the night’”, adding that there had been “no substantial change” over the past ten years of Bafta awards history.
Continuing, Ryder added: “And depressingly, despite a massive overhaul, on which I and many other industry people were consulted and which resulted in 120 changes to the Bafta award processes, 1,000 new members from under-represented groups etc, the end result is there is no substantial change”. His comments join that of many critics who have slammed the organisation for its total lack of representation among its winners.
The awards show surprised many critics and general onlookers when the WWI drama All Quiet on the Western Front took home the ceremony’s highest honour, along with awards for ‘Best Director’, ‘Film not in the English language’, ‘Adapted Screenplay’ and ‘Original Score’.
Take a look at the moment when the German-language movie All Quiet on the Western Front, starring Felix Kammerer, won ‘Best Film’ at the Baftas below.
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