Film awards: Conclave praised with 12 2025 BAFTA Awards nominations
Conclave has emerged as the BAFTAs favourite in 2025 with 12 nominations.
The papal drama stands atop the heap among 42 nominated films as Britain prepares to celebrate the motion picture arts.
Film News Blitz’s David Bason breaks down the nominations for this year’s BAFTA Awards.
Conclave on top
Director Edward Berger’s modern adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front was widely celebrated by BAFTA, earning a record-tying 14 nominations and winning seven awards in 2023.
Berger is back with Conclave, which has racked up 12 nominations including but not limited to Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor.
Best Actor should come as no surprise as Ralph Fiennes is likely to go down in history as one of Britain’s finest acting exports.
Rounding out the BAFTA nominations podium
Hot on Conclave’s heels for this year’s BAFTAs are Netflix’s musical Emilia Perez and Brady Corbet’s groundbreaking The Brutalist, with 11 and nine nominations.
Both feature in the Best Film category and that truly means some momentum is being gathered ahead of this year’s Oscars after big wins for Emilia Perez and The Brutalist at the Golden Globes.
The Oscars race for Best Picture develops
With the BAFTA Awards only making room for five nominations in Best Film, as opposed to the upper limit of 10 at the Oscars, today offers a glimpse at who is likely to miss out on Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards.
Making the grade with BAFTA are Anora, The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Conclave and Emilia Perez.
This means the likes of Wicked and The Substance are outside contenders for the big prize at this year’s Oscars.
Celebrating British film
One of the greatest things about the BAFTAs for local audiences is that the awards night is not only a celebration of international film but a true flag bearer for shouting loud and proud of cinematic achievements in Lil’ Old Blighty.
That’s why there are categories for Outstanding British Film, Best British Animated Short and Best British Short as well as Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer.
An honourable mention in the latter category is Dev Patel, who starred in his directorial debut Monkey Man - a resounding triumph of a film centred on an underground fighter in an Indian slum taking on the corrupt elite.
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Monkey Man was a hit with critics, scoring 89% on Rotten Tomatoes and blends Hindu mythology and social commentary into the action genre with gusto.
Bravo, Dev Patel.
Hugh Grant’s acting renaissance continues as he earns a surprise, but deserving nomination for his wickedly sinister leading performance in Heretic, although he faces stern competition from the likes of Adrien Brody (The Brutalist) and Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown) who are two of the heavy hitters this awards season.
Actors to watch out for
The race towards winning acting awards at the Oscars will continue with the BAFTAs and many of the winners/nominees from the Golden Globes featured in Wednesday’s nominations.
Globe winners Demi Moore (The Substance), Zoe Saldana (Emilia Perez) and Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain) are all up for BAFTAs as is Sebastian Stan, but this time he is gunning for glory with The Apprentice after taking a Golden Globe award for A Different Man.
Justice for Denis Villeneuve
After being snubbed by the Directors Guild of America, BAFTA made the right call by nominating Denis Villeneuve for his directing achievements on Dune: Part Two.
However, Jon M. Chu’s directing heroics on Wicked went unrecognised so here’s hoping he can stick the landing with the second part of the Broadway adaptation this November.
Sean Baker (Anora), Jacques Audiard (Emilia Perez), Coralie Fargeat (The Substance), Corbet (The Brutalist) and Berger (Conclave) are the other directing nominees.
When are the 2025 BAFTA Awards?
The 2025 BAFTA Awards takes place on Sunday, 16 February and David Tennant will return as host following last year’s ceremony.
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The 2025 BAFTA Awards Nominations
Best film
Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Emilia Perez
Outstanding British Film
Bird
Blitz
Conclave
Gladiator II
Hard Truths
Kneecap
Lee
Love Lies Bleeding
The Outrun
Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
Hoard - Luna Carmoon (director/ writer)
Kneecap - Rich Peppiatt (director, writer)
Monkey Man - Dev Patel (director)
Santosh - Sandhya Suri (director, writer), James Bowsher (producer), Balthazar de Ganay (producer)
Sister Midnight - Karan Kandhari (director, writer)
Film Not in the English Language
All We Imagine As Light
Emilia Perez
I'm Still Here
Kneecap
The Seed Of The Sacred Fig
Documentary
Black Box Diaries
Daughters
No Other Land
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Will & Harper
Animated Film
Flow
Inside Out 2
Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot
Children’s & Family Film
Flow
Kensuke's Kingdom
Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot
Director
Anora - Sean Baker
The Brutalist - Brady Corbet
Conclave - Edward Berger
Dune: Part Two - Denis Villeneuve
Emilia Perez - Jacques Audiard
The Substance - Coralie Fargeat
Original Screenplay
Anora - Sean Baker
The Brutalist - Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold
Kneecap - Rich Peppiatt, Naoise O Caireallain, Liam Og O Hannaidh, JJ O Dochartaigh
A Real Pain - Jesse Eisenberg
The Substance - Coralie Fargeat
Adapted Screenplay
A Complete Unknown - James Mangold and Jay Cocks
Conclave - Peter Straughan
Emilia Perez - Jacques Audiard
Nickel Boys - RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes
Sing Sing - Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence 'Divine Eye' Maclin, John 'Divine G' Whitfield
Leading Actress
Cynthia Erivo - Wicked
Karla Sofia Gascon - Emilia Perez
Marianne Jean-Baptiste - Hard Truths
Mikey Madison - Anora
Demi Moore - The Substance
Saoirse Ronan - The Outrun
Leading Actor
Adrien Brody - The Brutalist
Timothee Chalamet - A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo - Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes - Conclave
Hugh Grant - Heretic
Sebastian Stan - The Apprentice
Supporting Actress
Selena Gomez - Emilia Perez
Ariana Grande - Wicked
Felicity Jones - The Brutalist
Jamie Lee Curtis - The Last Showgirl
Isabella Rossellini - Conclave
Zoe Saldana - Emilia Perez
Supporting Actor
Yura Borisov - Anora
Kieran Culkin - A Real Pain
Clarence Maclin - Sing Sing
Edward Norton - A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce - The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong - The Apprentice
Casting
Anora - Sean Baker, Samantha Quan
The Apprentice - Stephanie Gorin, Carmen Cuba
A Complete Unknown - Yesi Ramirez
Conclave - Nina Gold, Martin Ware
Kneecap - Carla Stronge
Cinematography
The Brutalist - Lol Crawley
Conclave - Stephanie Fontaine
Dune: Part Two - Greig Fraser
Emilia Perez - Paul Guilhaume
Nosferatu - Jarin Blaschke
Editing
Anora
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Perez
Kneecap
Costume Design
Blitz
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Nosferatu
Wicked
Make-Up & Hair
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Perez
Nosferatu
The Substance
Wicked
Original Score
The Brutalist
Conclave
Emilia Perez
Nosferatu
The Wild Robot
Production Design
The Brutalist
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Nosferatu
Wicked
Sound
Blitz
Dune: Part Two
Gladiator II
The Substance
Wicked
Special Visual Effects
Better Man
Dune: Part Two
Gladiator II
Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes
Wicked
British Short Animation
Adios
Mog's Christmas
Wander To Wonder
British Short Film
The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing
Marion
Milk
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Stomach Bug
EE Rising Star Award (voted for by the public)
Marisa Abela
Jharrel Jerome
David Jonsson
Mikey Madison
Nabhaan Rizwan
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