BAFTA 2025: “Conclave” Leads Nominations, “Emilia Pérez” Follows Closely

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts

Edward Berger’s Conclave and Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez have emerged as the frontrunners in the 2025 BAFTA Film Awards, announced today. The British papal drama Conclave leads the pack with 12 nominations, while the Mexico-set musical Emilia Pérez closely follows with 11.

Key nominations for Conclave include best film, outstanding British film, best director for Berger, leading actor for Ralph Fiennes, and supporting actress for Isabella Rossellini. Meanwhile, Emilia Pérez received nods for best film, best director for Audiard, leading actress for Karla Sofía Gascón, and supporting actress for both Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña.

This year, 42 films are nominated across 23 categories, showcasing a wide array of genres, including musicals, horror, sci-fi, and comedy. Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist secured 9 nominations, including best film, director, and leading actor for Adrien Brody. High-profile blockbusters like Wicked and Dune: Part Two received 7 nominations each, with Sean Baker’s Anora, the 2024 Palme d’Or winner, also securing 7 nods. Notably, Baker is up for five individual nominations, making him the second-most-nominated individual in BAFTA history.

British cinema is strongly represented with films such as Kneecap, a Rich Peppiatt-directed story about an Irish-language rap group, earning six nominations, and Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance receiving five. Steve McQueen’s World War II epic Blitz also garnered three nominations. Despite this, no UK filmmakers are represented in the best film, director, or documentary categories.

BAFTA Film Committee chair Anna Higgs highlighted the nominations' genre diversity but acknowledged gaps in representation for UK filmmakers and gender balance. “The most nominated film is Conclave, which is a British film, even though directed by Germany-born Edward Berger,” she noted, emphasizing its British origins and backing.

This year, only one woman, French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat (The Substance), is nominated in the best director category. Higgs commented on the industry’s struggle for gender parity, stating, “About a quarter of the films submitted are directed by women. It’s not a level playing field from the start.” BAFTA’s interventions, including juries and longlists, aim to address this disparity, but Higgs conceded that significant work remains.

A new category for children’s and family films debuts this year, with its four nominees—Flow, Kensuke’s Kingdom, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, and The Wild Robot—all being animated films. The overlap between this category and animated films will be reviewed for future editions, Higgs said.

The 2025 BAFTA Film Awards ceremony will be broadcast on February 16 from London’s Royal Festival Hall, hosted by actor David Tennant. High-profile nominees include stars such as Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, and Timothée Chalamet, whose presence on the red carpet is expected to draw global attention. BAFTA hopes this star power will spotlight lesser-known films like Anora and Kneecap.

Additional highlights include Warwick Davis receiving the BAFTA Fellowship, and rising star nominees Marisa Abela, Jharrel Jerome, Mikey Madison, David Jonsson, and Nabhaan Rizwan competing for the public-voted EE Rising Star Award. Winners will be determined after the final voting round opens tomorrow, January 16.

Full list of nominations

Best Film

• Anora - Alex Coco, Samantha Quan, Sean Baker
• The Brutalist - TBC
• A Complete Unknown - Fred Berger, Alex Heineman, James Mangold
• Conclave - Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, Michael A. Jackman
• Emilia Pérez - TBC

Outstanding British Film

• Bird - Andrea Arnold, Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, Lee Groombridge
• Blitz - Steve Mcqueen, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Anita Overland
• Conclave - Edward Berger, Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, Michael A. Jackman, Peter Straughan
• Gladiator II - Ridley Scott, Douglas Wick, Lucy Fisher, Michael Pruss, David Scarpa, Peter Craig
• Hard Truths - Mike Leigh, Georgina Lowe
• Kneecap - Rich Peppiatt, Trevor Birney, Jack Tarling, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, Jj Ó Dochartaigh
• Lee - Ellen Kuras, Kate Solomon, Kate Winslet, Liz Hannah, Marion Hume, John Collee, Lem Dobbs
• Love Lies Bleeding - Rose Glass, Andrea Cornwell, Oliver Kassman, Wereonika Tofilska
• The Outrun - Nora Fingscheidt, Sarah Brocklehurst, Dominic Norris, Jack Lowden, Saoirse Ronan, Amy Liptrot
• Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl - Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham, Richard Beek, Mark Burton

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) [also produced By Alan Mcalex, Mike Goodridge]
• Sister Midnight - Karan Kandhari (Director, Writer)

Film Not In The English Language

• All We Imagine As Light - Payal Kapadia, Thomas Hakim
• Emilia Pérez - Jacques Audiard, Tbd
• I’m Still Here - Walter Salles, Tbd
• Kneecap - Rich Peppiatt, Trevor Birney
• The Seed Of The Sacred Fig - Mohammad Rasoulof, Amin Sadraei

Documentary

• Black Box Diaries - Shiori Ito, Hanna Aqvilin, Eric Nyari
• Daughters - Natalie Rae, Angela Patton,
• No Other Land - Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor
• Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story - Ian Bonhôte, Peter Ettedgui, Lizzie Gilliett, Robert Ford
• Will & Harper - Josh Greenbaum, Rafael Marmor, Christopher Leggett, Will Ferrell, Jessica Elbaum

Animated Film

• Flow - Gints Siibalodis, Matīss Kaža
• Inside Out 2 - Kelsey Mann, Mark Nielsen
• Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl - Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham, Richard Beek
• The Wild Robot - Chris Sanders, Jeff Hermann

Children’s & Family Film

• Flow - Gints Siibalodis, Matīss Kaža
• Kensuke’s Kingdom - Kirk Hendry, Neil Boyle, Camilla Deakin
• Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl - Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham, Richard Beek
• The Wild Robot - Chris Sanders, Jeff Hermann

Director

• Sean Baker - Anora
• Brady Corbet - The Brutalist
• Edward Berger - Conclave
• Denis Villeneuve - Dune: Part Two
• Jacques Audiard - Emilia Pérez
• Coralie Fargeat - The Substance

Original Screenplay

• Anora - Sean Baker
• The Brutalist - Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold
• Kneecap - Rich Peppiatt, story By Rich Peppiatt, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, Jj Ó Dochartaigh
• A Real Pain - Jesse Eisenberg
• The Substance - Coralie Fargeat

Adapted Screenplay

• A Complete Unknown - James Mangold, Jay Cocks
• Conclave - Peter Straughan
• Emilia Pérez - Jacques Audiard
• Nickel Boys - Ramell Ross & Joslyn Barnes
• Sing Sing - Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, story By Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence ‘Divine Eye’ Maclin, John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield

Leading Actress

• Cynthia Erivo - Wicked
• Karla Sofía Gascón - Emilia Pérez
• Marianne Jean-Baptiste - Hard Truths
• Mikey Madison - Anora
• Demi Moore - The Substance
• Saoirse Ronan - The Outrun

Leading Actor

• Adrien Brody - The Brutalist
• Timothée Chalamet - A Complete Unknown
• Colman Domingo - Sing Sing
• Ralph Fiennes - Conclave
• Hugh Grant - Heretic
• Sebastian Stan - The Apprentice

Supporting Actress

• Selena Gomez - Emilia Pérez
• Ariana Grande - Wicked
• Felicity Jones - The Brutalist
• Jamie Lee Curtis - The Last Showgirl
• Isabella Rossellini - Conclave
• Zoe Saldaña - Emilia Pérez

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 - Stéphane Fontaine
• Dune: Part Two - Greig Fraser
• Emilia Pérez - Paul Guilhaume
• Nosferatu - Jarin Blaschke

Editing

• Anora - Sean Baker
• Conclave - Nick Emerson
• Dune: Part Two - Joe Walker
• Emilia Pérez - Juliette Welfling
• Kneecap - Julian Ulrichs, Chris Gill

Costume Design

• Blitz - Jacqueline Durran
• A Complete Unknown - Arianne Phillips
• Conclave - Lisy Christl
• Nosferatu - Linda Muir
• Wicked - Paul Tazewell

Make Up & Hair

• Dune: Part Two - Love Larson, Eva Von Bahr
• Emilia Pérez - Julia Floch Carbonel, Emmanuel Janvier, Jean-Christophe Spadaccini, Romain Marietti
• Nosferatu - David White, Traci Loader, Suzanne Stokes-Munton
• The Substance - Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon, Frédérique Arguello, Marilyne Scarselli
• Wicked - Frances Hannon, Laura Blount, Sarah Nuth

Original Score

• The Brutalist - Daniel Blumberg
• Conclave - Volker Bertelmann
• Emilia Pérez - Camille, Clément Ducol
• Nosferatu - Robin Carolan
• The Wild Robot - Kris Bowers

Production Design

• The Brutalist - Judy Becker, Patricia Cuccia
• Conclave - Suzie Davies, Cynthia Sleiter
• Dune: Part Two - Patrice Vermette, Shane Vieau
• Nosferatu - Craig Lathrop
• Wicked - Nathan Crowley, Lee Sandales

Sound

• Blitz - John Casali, Paul Cotterell, James Harrison
• Dune: Part Two - Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill, Gareth John, Richard King
• Gladiator II - Stéphane Bucher, Matthew Collinge, Paul Massey Danny Sheehan
• The Substance - Valérie Deloof, Victor Fleurant, Victor Praud, Stéphane Thiébaut, Emmanuelle Villard
• Wicked - Robin Baynton, Simon Hayes, John Marquis, Andy Nelson, Nancy Nugent Title

 Special Visual Effects

• Better Man - Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft, Peter Stubbs
• Dune: Part Two - Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Gerd Nefzer, Rhys Salcombe
• Gladiator II - Mark Bakowski, Neil Corbould, Nikki Penny, Pietro Ponti
• Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes - Erik Winquist, Rodney Burke, Paul Story, Stephen Unterfranz
• Wicked - Pablo Helman, Paul Corbould, Jonathan Fawkner, Anthony Smith

British Short Animation

• Adiós - José Prats, Natalia Kyriacou, Bernardo Angeletti
• Mog’s Christmas - Robin Shaw, Joanna Harrison, Camilla Deakin, Ruth Fielding
• Wander To Wonder - Nina Gantz, Stienette Bosklopper, Simon Cartwright, Maarten Swart

British Short Film

• The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing - Theo Panagopoulos, Marissa Keating
• Marion - Joe Weiland, Finn Constantine, Marija Djikic
• Milk - Miranda Stern, Ashionye Ogene
• Rock, Paper, Scissors - Franz Böhm, Ivan, Hayder Rothschild Hoozeer
• Stomach Bug - Matty Crawford, Karima Sammout-Kanellopoulou

Ee Rising Star Award (voted for by the public)

• Marisa Abela
• Jharrel Jerome
• David Jonsson
• Mikey Madison
• Nabhaan Rizwan