The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) will gather at the Royal Festival Hall in London on Sunday, February 18, 2024, for the 77th edition of the BAFTA Film Awards.

The nominees were announced one month in advance, on January 18. In total, 38 films were nominated for 25 awards.

Within the U.K., audiences can watch the awards show on BBC One at 8 pm GMT or stream it on BBC iPlayer. In the U.S., Canada, and certain other countries, audiences can stream the show on BritBox International.

Here’s everything you need to know to enjoy this year’s BAFTA Film Awards.

Host

The ceremony will be hosted by Scottish actor David Tennant, who has brought to life a remarkable variety of characters.

Onstage, Tennant has played Shakespearean roles including Hamlet, Macbeth, and Richard II. Onscreen, Tennant has embodied Barty Crouch, Jr., in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and voiced Scrooge McDuck for DuckTales and Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers.

Tennant is best known for playing Doctor Who from 2005-2010. The time-traveling hero, who has died and reconstituted himself many times, assumed Tennant’s form once again in 2022-2023, near the 60th anniversary of the original series, making Tennant the 10th and 14th Doctor, by Entertainment Weekly’s reckoning.

We will pass quietly by the Doctor’s good looks, simply noting that Tennant has been The Pink Paper’s Sexiest Man in the Universe and Cosmopolitan’s 16th Sexiest Man in the World. On this subject, we have no professional opinion.

Award Nominees

BAFTA has done a wonderful job of recognizing new talent. Emerging creatives appear alongside established celebrities even in the most glamorous and trumpeted award categories.

Six films will compete for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer. (We added the Oxford comma – and will zealously continue to do so!)

The nominated debuts are Lisa Selby’s documentary about battling addiction, Blue Bag Life; Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp’s documentary about a Ugandan musician/activist, Bobi Wine: The People’s President; Savannah Leaf’s drama about single motherhood, Earth Mama; Molly Manning Walker’s drama about three teenage girls’ summer road trip, How to Have Sex; and Ella Glending’s documentary about being a little person, Is There Anybody Out There?

Five remarkable performers have been honored with nominations for the Rising Star Award.

Phoebe Dynevor portrayed Emily in Fair Play (2023) and the Duchess of Hastings in Bridgerton (2020-2022). Ayo Edebiri plays Sydney Adamu in The Bear (2022-) and voiced April O’Neil in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023). Jacob Elordi played Felix Catton in Saltburn (2023) and Nate Jacobs in the first two seasons of Euphoria (2019-2022). Mia McKenna-Bruce played Tara in How to Have Sex (2023). Sophie Wilde played Mia in Talk to Me (2022).

The nominations for marquee categories – Best Leading Actress, Best Leading Actor, Best Director, and Best Film – feature experienced filmmakers as well as relative newcomers.

The nominations for Best Leading Actress may help to introduce audiences to at least two performers. Vivian Oparah was nominated for playing Yas in the contemporary London comedy Rye Lane. Fantasia Barrino, a past winner of American Idol (season 3, 2004), was nominated for playing Celie in the film adaptation of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple.

Sandra Hüller is already an accomplished actress, but she is perhaps better known in Europe than in the U.S. In 2006, her starring role in Requiem earned a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. This year, she earned a BAFTA nomination for playing accused husband-killer Sandra Voyter in Anatomy of a Fall.

The other nominees – Carey Mulligan (Maestro), Margot Robbie (Barbie), and Emma Stone (Poor Things) – probably need no introductions.

The nominations for Best Leading Actor include two performers who may be unfamiliar to U.S. audiences. Barry Keoghan was nominated for starring as a strange summer visitor to an English estate in Saltburn. Teo Yoo was nominated for portraying a man whose love is not completely unrequited in Past Lives.

Colman Domingo has an impressive resume that includes roles in Selma, Lincoln, and Fear the Walking Dead. In 2022, he won an Emmy® for portraying Ali in Euphoria. This year, Domingo earned a BAFTA nomination for starring as a 1960s-era civil rights activist in Rustin.

Another accomplished contender, Paul Giamatti, played the dissatisfied main character, Miles, in Sideways. Giamatti has won Golden Globes® for roles in three films, including the boarding school comedy The Holdovers. His starring role as teacher Paul Hunham also earned a BAFTA nomination.

The remaining nominees are Bradley Cooper (Maestro) and Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer), who are well known to fans of cinema.

As BAFTA pointed out, none of the six nominees for Best Director has previously won the award, and four have earned their first nominations in the category. The first-time nominees are Jonathan Glazer for The Zone of Interest, Andrew Haigh for All of Us Strangers, Alexander Payne for The Holdovers, and Justine Triet for Anatomy of a Fall.

Bradley Cooper, nominated for Maestro, was previously nominated for A Star Is Born. Christopher Nolan, nominated for Oppenheimer, was previously nominated for Dunkirk and Inception.

Finally, the nominations for Best Film put works from rising auteurs next to works from the greatest luminaries in the film industry.

Justine Triet is soaring to worldwide acclaim with Anatomy of a Fall, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Similarly, Yorgos Lanthimos has enchanted audiences around the world with Poor Things, which won the Golden Lion at Venice.

Alexander Payne has earned critical acclaim for numerous films, including Sideways and The Descendants. Now, The Holdovers is continuing that legacy.

The remaining films are by megastar directors Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese. Nolan’s Oppenheimer already won the Golden Globe® for Best Motion Picture (Drama). Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon has received 10 nominations for Academy Awards®, including Best Picture.

Enjoy the Awards Show!

We hope you’re looking forward to the BAFTA Film Awards. Whether the winners turn out to be veterans of the film industry or recent entrants, they will be highly deserving of awards.

We thank BAFTA for recognizing talented creatives at every level of experience. Please join us in wishing good luck to the amazing nominees!