The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the longlists for the 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards, with Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Killers of the Flower Moon leading the pack with 15 mentions each in a historic three-way tie.
Overview
The longlists feature 127 films under consideration across 24 categories, including Best Film, Director, Leading Actress and Actor, Supporting Actress and Actor, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Documentary, Animated Film and Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer.
According to BAFTA’s first-round voting, Barbie, Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon have each received 15 mentions, the highest number of longlist nods this year. This three-way tie for first place is unprecedented in BAFTA’s history.
Other top longlisted titles include:
- Everything Everywhere All At Once with 12 mentions
- Tár with 11 mentions
- Aftersun and Good Luck to You, Leo Grande with 10 mentions each
Lead Contenders
Barbie, Greta Gerwig’s vibrant take on the iconic doll line, scored recognition across the performance, director, screenplay and technical categories. The film’s stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling both feature on the Leading Actress and Actor lists, while Gerwig is longlisted for Director and Original Screenplay.
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, an epic biopic of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the development of the atomic bomb, also registered across multiple categories. Nolan received a Directing nod, while Cillian Murphy is recognized for Leading Actor for his performance as the enigmatic physicist. The film’s technical crafts team were also widely longlisted.
Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon rounds out the top three with 15 mentions. Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro all received expected nods for Directing, Leading Actor and Supporting Actor, respectively. Scorsese’s screenplay, about the mysterious murders of oil-wealthy Osage people in 1920s Oklahoma, is up for Original Screenplay.
Snubs and Surprises
May December, starring Charles Melton and Mahershala Ali, was widely predicted to score recognition but was absent from the longlists. The film has been gaining Oscar buzz recently but failed to impress BAFTA voters. Melton and Ali’s Lead Actor bids are among the most shocking individual omissions.
Smaller indie titles like Aftersun and Good Luck to You, Leo Grande scored better than expected. Both films picked up 10 longlist mentions, including spots in the prestigious Best Film race. Their leads Paul Mescal and Emma Thompson are longlisted for Leading Actor and Actress, while directors Charlotte Wells and Sophie Hyde broke into the Directing category dominated by veterans.
Diversity Analysis
BAFTA has made concerted efforts in recent years to improve representation and diversity across its awards. This is reflected in this year’s longlists, with noticeably more women directors and filmmakers of color recognized.
In the Directing category, roughly 36% of longlisted directors are women. Contenders include Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Woman King), Sarah Polley (Women Talking) and Maria Schrader (She Said).
The Outstanding Debut race features an exceptionally diverse range of new filmmaking voices this year. Of the fifteen directors, writers and producers longlisted, eight identify as women and four as people of color.
What Happens Next
The longlist stage will provide the deepest insight yet into the current state of the 2024 awards race, according to awards pundits.
Over the next few weeks, BAFTA’s voting chapters will re-watch the films and narrow these longlists down to 8-10 nominations per category. These nominees will be announced on January 19.
With Oscar nomination voting also commencing shortly on January 12, the BAFTA longlists offer invaluable guidance on the favorites in contention for both Academies this year. Experts suggest focusing closely on how today’s longlist results shift the overall forecasts.
Many of these BAFTA frontrunners will reconvene at the Golden Globes this Tuesday, January 10, where more clues will emerge in the ever-evolving awards race.
Full Longlists
Below are the categories featured in BAFTA’s inaugural longlist announcement:
| Category | Number Longlisted |
|---|---|
| Best Film | 39 |
| Outstanding British Film | 18 |
| Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer | 15 |
| Film Not in the English Language | 15 |
| Documentary | 15 |
| Animated Film | 12 |
| Director | 20 |
| Original Screenplay | 15 |
| Adapted Screenplay | 14 |
| Leading Actress | 25 |
| Leading Actor | 30 |
| Supporting Actress | 34 |
| Supporting Actor | 31 |
| Original Score | 14 |
| Casting | 14 |
| Cinematography | 15 |
| Editing | 20 |
| Production Design | 15 |
| Costume Design | 14 |
| Makeup & Hair | 15 |
| Sound | 15 |
| Special Visual Effects | 20 |
| British Short Animation | 6 |
| British Short Film | 9 |
The full longlists for all categories are available on the BAFTA website.
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