EE British Academy Film Awards: Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema, presented to Noel Clarke

For the first time, the EE British Academy Film Awards takes place over two consecutive evenings from the Royal Albert Hall in London this weekend.

This evening, the first of two ceremonies – the ‘EE BAFTA Film Awards Opening Night’ – was hosted by Clara Amfo alongside guests Rhianna Dhillon and Joanna Scanlan.

Eight of 25 awards winners were revealed during the show, broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Two HD, as part of a programme that gave audiences an in-depth insight into the filmmaking process.

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom won two awards: Costume Design and Make Up & Hair. Rocks won Casting. Sound of Metal won Sound. Mank won Production Design. Tenet won Special Visual Effects. The Present won the British Short Film award, while the BAFTA for British Short Animation was won by The Owl and the Pussycat.

Presenters for the 2021 EE British Academy Film Awards include Joanthan Pryce, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Hugh Grant, Phoebe Dynevor, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cynthia Erivo, Tom Hiddleston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, James McAvoy, Renée Zellweger, Felicity Jones & David Oyelowo joining from London and Los Angeles

Musical guests for the 2021 EE British Academy Film Awards include Brit Award winner #Celeste performing Hear My Voice from Best Film nominee The Trial of the Chicago 7 as well as a duet of A Change is Gonna Come, featured in the film One Night in Miami…, to be performed by Leslie Odom Jr. from Los Angeles and Corinne Bailey Rae in London.

The award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema, announced last month, was presented to filmmaker Noel Clarke (pictured)

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Today Sunday 11 April, the EE British Academy Film Awards will be hosted by Edith Bowman and Dermot O’Leary from London’s Royal Albert Hall with nominees attending virtually. The winners of 17 categories will be announced over the course of the evening including the public-voted EE Rising Star Award. In addition, the Fellowship, the highest honour the Academy can bestow, will be awarded to director Ang Lee. The show will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC One HD at 7pm BST.

As part of BAFTA’s year-round programme of learning events and initiatives, 50 of this year’s nominees across 10 categories took part in ‘BAFTA Film: The Sessions’ from 22 March – 1 April. The Sessions saw the nominees discuss their craft in interviews that are available online on BAFTA’s social channels and on BAFTA Guru.

Other year-round film activity includes initiatives such as BAFTA’s new talent activity and scholarships programme, BAFTA Crew, BAFTA Elevate, as well as masterclasses and the ‘BAFTA A Life in Pictures’ series.