The British Academy Film Awards 2019

Review

by Jane Rackham

It’s all about The Favourite and Roma this year. They’ve both racked up an impressive clutch of nominations including best picture. But sadly it means a lot of terrific films (If Beale Street Could Talk, Widows…) have been largely overlooked.

The best actress category may be a straight fight between Glenn Close (The Wife) and Olivia Colman (The Favourite), but best actor is trickier to predict – if it follows the Golden Globes it will be Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody but Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born), Christian Bale (Vice), Steve Coogan (Stan & Ollie) and Viggo Mortensen (Green Book) are strong contenders, too.

Hopefully, host Joanna Lumley won’t have a repeat of last year’s awkward situation (albeit wittily handled) when she wore the same dress as Rebecca Ferguson who was presenting an award.

Summary

Joanna Lumley hosts the award ceremony from the Royal Albert Hall. Films in the running for awards this year include The Favourite, with nominations in 12 different categories, as well as Bohemian Rhapsody, First Man, Roma, A Star Is Born, BlacKkKlansman, Vice, Green Book, Cold War, Can You Ever Forgive Me? , Mary Poppins Returns, Mary Queen Of Scots and Stan & Ollie. Featuring a performance from Cirque du Soleil.