Yorkshire films snubbed as BAFTA nominations are released while bosses address lack of diversity

Films made in Yorkshire have been ignored in BAFTA nominations despite the growing success of the screen industry around the region.

Many features in line for an award from the British Academy of Film and Television are from across the Atlantic, with films such as Joker, the Irishman and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood nominated in multiple categories.

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The Personal History of David Copperfield, which was partly filmed in Hull, is the only feature with links to the region in the running for an award, as Sarah Crowe is nominated in the casting category.

Credit: Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA WireCredit: Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA Wire
Credit: Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA Wire

Another feature which producers might have expected to see in the line-up is Official Secrets, which starred Keira Knightley as British intelligence specialist Katharine Gun and filmed at locations in the region such as Bradford City Hall and Leeds with the help of the region's film and TV agency Screen Yorkshire.

However the drama, which was well-received by critics, was not voted in by the Academy's members.

With the associated British Academy Television Craft Awards taking place April 26 this year, regional producers will be waiting to see how choice TV hits such as Gentleman Jack - which has boosted tourism in Calderdale - will fare in nominations.

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Armando Iannucci, director of the Personal History of David Copperfield, with actors Peter Capaldi and Dev Patel. The film has been nominated for a casting BAFTA. Picture: Screen Yorkshire.Armando Iannucci, director of the Personal History of David Copperfield, with actors Peter Capaldi and Dev Patel. The film has been nominated for a casting BAFTA. Picture: Screen Yorkshire.
Armando Iannucci, director of the Personal History of David Copperfield, with actors Peter Capaldi and Dev Patel. The film has been nominated for a casting BAFTA. Picture: Screen Yorkshire.

Meanwhile, BAFTA bosses have said it is "disappointing" and "infuriating" that this year's film awards feature all-white acting nominees and that no female directors are recognised.

The BAFTAs uses a process that includes two rounds of voting by members, specialist chapters and juries.

The winners and nominees in the majority of categories are voted for by 6,500 members, who are comprised of industry professionals and creatives around the world.

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Members vote to decide the nominations from hundreds of films in round one, then vote for the winner in round two.

Addressing the lack of diversity, BAFTA chief executive Amanda Berry told the PA news agency: "Being totally honest, we are disappointed and that is not to take anything away from the people who have been nominated."

She added: "We do have 13 directors nominated who are females across other categories, so everybody from Jennifer Lee who directed Frozen 2, and this is what gives me joy and hope actually, six female directors in the shorts category and that is the category where we are really seeing talent at the start of their career and they are the industry of the future, but we are going to do more, we are not going to stop pushing."

Marc Samuelson, chairman of Bafta's film committee, said: "Clearly everybody knows that everybody in the four acting groups of nominees are white, it's infuriating, we can't make the industry do something, all we can do is encourage and push and inspire and try to help people coming in at the bottom end.

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"There are some good signs - if you take all the nominations, it's up to about 36 per cent female and it's been rising every year and that is pretty much doubled over the last couple of years so that is a really good sign and that is across all categories, which is very interesting, because obviously a lot of those are craft, which is also very important.

"Keep going on that and maybe in another couple of years we are over 40 per cent and are heading towards parity, which would be great.

"It doesn't take anything away from the issue in the acting categories but nonetheless it's something and things are moving."

He added that the Bafta programme Elevate, which focuses on under-represented groups, will once again focus on female directors to try to address the issue.

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Joker leads the nominations at the British Academy film awards with 11 nods.

The origin story of the comic book villain, starring Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, is in the running for best film, best actor, best adapted screenplay and best director.

It is closely followed by Martin Scorsese's gangster epic the Irishman and Quentin Tarantino's ninth film, Once Upon A Time... in Hollywood, which both scored 10 nominations and will also compete in the best film category, alongside Sir Sam Mendes' war film 1917 and Korean film Parasite.

Phoenix will compete with Once Upon A Time star Leonardo DiCaprio, Marriage Story's Adam Driver, Rocketman star Taron Egerton, and Jonathan Pryce for The Two Popes in the leading actor category.

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The nominees for the leading actress Bafta are Jessie Buckley for Wild Rose, Scarlett Johansson for Marriage Story, Saoirse Ronan for Little Women, Charlize Theron for Bombshell, and Renee Zellweger for Judy, while Margot Robbie scored two nominations in the supporting actress category for her roles in Bombshell and Once Upon A Time... in Hollywood.

The other nominees are Laura Dern for Marriage Story, Scarlett Johansson for Jojo Rabbit, and Florence Pugh for Little Women.

The supporting actor nominees are Tom Hanks for A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, Sir Anthony Hopkins for The Two Popes, Al Pacino for The Irishman, Joe Pesci for The Irishman, and Brad Pitt for Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood.

It had been hoped that Greta Gerwig would land a directing nomination for her adaptation of Little Women, but she is only recognised in the adapted screenplay category, leaving an all-male directing line-up of Mendes for 1917, Todd Phillips for Joker, Scorsese for The Irishman, Tarantino for Once Upon A Time, and Bong Joon-ho for Parasite.

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New statistics about the film industry in Yorkshire are expected to be released soon, but as previously reported by The Yorkshire Post, in 2017 data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed that between 2009 and 2015, the region’s screen industries grew faster than anywhere else in the UK, including London and the South East.

The industry generated an annual turnover of £424m across 590 creative businesses (an increase of 247 per cent against the UK average of 118 per cent).

The number of business units across Yorkshire and Humber grew 57 per cent compared to the UK average of 47 per cent.

Employment across the film and TV industries in the region grew 88 per cent against a UK average of 32 per cent.

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