BAFTA Film Awards Voting Opens After Major Diversity-Fueled Shakeup

The British Independent Film Awards —best known as the BIFAs —has set a date and host for its postponed 2020 ceremony, pushed back and shifted online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The ceremony, which usually takes place in early December, is now set to take place on Feb.

EXCLUSIVE: UK production and sales firm MSR Media is planning to shoot comedy feature One Year Off on the relatively Covid-free Caribbean island of Nevis, the producers and island’s leadership are announcing today.

The British Independent Film Awards —better knowns as the BIFAs —have unveiled the winners of its nine craft categories. Remi Weekes' horror His House —which landed 16 nominations in total —won the honor for best effects (for Pedro Sabrosa and Stegano Pepin) and best production design (for Jacqueline Abrahams who was previously nominated for the award in 2017 for Lady Macbeth).

Naman Ramachandran The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has extended its eligibility period for the 2021 Film Awards.On Monday, BAFTA’s film committee decided that due to the continuing impact of COVID-19, U.K. cinema closures and the limited availability of cinema screens, entered titles scheduled to release before the eligibility cut-off of April 9 will be automatically eligible if they release within the 2021 calendar year without the need for an appeal.

BAFTA has decided to extend the eligibility period for its Film Awards this year, with the org now allowing films to release at any point in 2021 and still be eligible for the upcoming ceremony in April.

UK broadcaster Sky has landed rights to a host of upcoming features, packing its film slate for 2021 with titles including the Allison Janney-starring Breaking News in Yuba County and the Irvine Welsh-penned Creation Stories.

To follow up his 2017 breakout indie hit God’s Own Country, Francis Lee found inspiration in the story of a little-known British fossil collector named Mary Anning. For Ammonite, he embellished what little is known about Anning, fashioning a romantic story for her, and cast Kate Winslet as the enigmatic heroine and Saoirse Ronan as the young woman who cracks her shell.

Poland has generated some fresh class distinctions since communist days, a development examined with a shrewd and merciless eye in the country’s Oscar-submitted feature Never Gonna Snow Again. The central figure is a mysterious private masseur, played by the UK-based actor Alec Utgoff, who goes door-to-door carrying with him a folding massage table through a wealthy gated community to offer is services to the numerous and invariably dissatisfied people living in the virtually identical houses.

Love Island's Iain Stirling has joked that the new series of the show could be filmed in the UK after the success of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. The comedian and voice of the dating show - who married his girlfriend Laura Whitmore, who presents Love Island - admitted that setting it in Britain would "mix it up" a bot.

government website.

Film and TV production has been taken off the UK government’s coronavirus travel exemption list, meaning those arriving in Britain to participate in shoots of all shapes and sizes will need to self-isolate for 10 days.

direct to your inboxHe's best known for playing gobby wheeler-dealer Lip Gallagher in the gritty Manchester drama Shameless, and Jody Latham is making a return to acting.Jody will have a leading role in a new movie set in the 1950s about the Teddy Boys.The 39-year-old actor turned entrepreneur, who has recently carved out a successful career in cosmetics and aesthetics, will begin shooting the film later this year.The film will focus on black culture and how it has shaped Britain today.The film

The 11th annual Youth Diversity Film Festival will open this weekend, featuring panel discussions and more than 60 films by young filmmakers from the U.S. and 13 other countries, including the UK, Kenya, Russia, Brazil, Bangladesh, South Korea, Iran and India. Presented by the Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center, the online festival runs January 16-31.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentJohnny Flynn’s star has been on the rise in recent years, and will be propelled a little higher on Jan. 29 with the release of period drama “The Dig” on Netflix, in which he appears alongside Ralph Fiennes, Carey Mulligan and Lily James.

Welcome International Insider readers, Jake Kanter with you today. Take a walk with me through some of the biggest stories of the week. Want to get in touch? I’m on [email protected], or my DMs are open on Twitter.

Johnny Flynn as David Bowie in Stardust has just been released exclusively for NME – check it out below.The clip sees Flynn as Bowie confront his manager Ron Oberman (GLOW star Marc Maron in the film) about their lack of success in America.Stardust is released this week (January 15) on digital platforms in the UK, and sees Flynn writing original songs for the film.Check out the new clip here: Recently reflecting on Bowie fans’ response to the film, Flynn told NME he received “homophobic abuse”