Charlie Clift/Bafta
The hashtag #BaftaSoWhite was circulating on social media again after the BAFTA Film Awards on Sunday evening.
Anger over the lack of diversity among those who won awards gathered around a group photo of all the winners on stage at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
Observers pointed out how the image appeared to depict just one black person: Alison Hammond, who co-hosted the BAFTAs with Richard E Grant.
Del Walker, a video game character artist and BAFTA member, said the photo showed that major award ceremonies “seem to value European stories about Europeans or white Americans”.
Ashanti Omkar, a TV commentator and BAFTA member, said the group photo caused “deep pain in the pit of my stomach”.
Sky News and ITV presenter Saima Mohsin added:
Hanna Ines Flint, MTV Movies UK presenter, described it as “qwhite one night”, while Philippa Childs, the leader of the Bectu union, remarked: “These @BAFTA voting changes don’t have an impact yet. impact, I see.”
The concern follows BAFTA devoting special attention to promoting diversity during its film awards process, with chairman Krish Majumdar making it one of its top priorities.
A grueling diversity review has resulted in 120 changes to its voting, membership and campaign process, including increasing the number of films voters watch and adding 1,000 members from underrepresented backgrounds.
The organization said 40% of interim nominees this year were of diverse ethnicity after all 20 nominees were white in 2020, when winner Joaquin Phoenix said in his acceptance speech that the industry needs to work hard to “really understand systemic racism”.
Viola Davis lost to Cate Blanchett in the Best Actress category. Daryl McCormack, the son of a white Irish mother and a black American father, competed with Austin Butler for the lead actor.
There is a feeling at BAFTA that similar winners will be crowned at other ceremonies, where films led by white actors and creators, such as In the west, nothing is new, should dominate. This, however, overlooks the success of Everything Everywhere Everything at Once, which performed well at the DGA Awards.
BAFTA declined to comment.