BAFTA Awards 2021: ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ picks two awards

According to Variety, the first night of the 2021 BAFTAs, which was hosted virtually from London's Royal Albert Hall by TV and BBC radio presenter Clara Amfo, was a mostly craft-centered affair

London: The unconventional 74th edition of the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) held its first of two ceremonies on April 10, with the second one scheduled for the subsequent day. ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ was the big winner on the opening night, taking home two golden masks.

According to Variety, the first night of the 2021 BAFTAs, which was hosted virtually from London’s Royal Albert Hall by TV and BBC radio presenter Clara Amfo, was a mostly craft-centered affair that also yielded wins for ‘Mank’, ‘Tenet’ and ‘Sound of Metal’.

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During the ceremony, eight primarily craft-focussed awards were handed out, including casting, costume, makeup and hair, production design, sound, special visual effects, British short film, and British short animation. The remaining awards — including the performance and best film categories will be handed out on the second night.

‘Rocks’ was the first winner, with Lucy Pardee scooping the award for Casting. The UK indie movie was nominated for a leading seven BAFTAs this year, joint most with ‘Nomadland’, which is a hot favourite for the Best Film prize on the second night.

Director and writer Noel Clarke, best known for the ‘Kidulthood’ film trilogy were honoured with the outstanding British contribution to cinema award. Supporting actor nominee Leslie Odom Jr. performed ‘Speak Now’, his Oscar-nominated song from One Night in Miami, for which he has earned a best-supporting actor BAFTA nomination.

Unsurprisingly, Netflix had a good evening, following its mammoth 34 nominations, by far the leading number for a distributor this year. The streamer took home prizes including Costume Design and Hair & Make-up, which both went to ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’s’, and Production Design, which was scooped by ‘Mank’.

Here’s a complete list of night one’s winners:

Sound
Sound Of Metal, Jaime Baksht, Nicolas Becker, Phillip Bladh, Carlos Cortes, Michelle Couttolenc – (WINNER)
Greyhound, Beau Borders, Christian P. Minkler, Michael Minkler, Warren Shaw, David Wyman
News Of The World, Michael Fentum, William Miller, Mike Prestwood Smith, John Pritchett, Oliver Tarney
Nomadland, Sergio Diaz, Zach Seivers, M. Wolf Snyder
Soul, Coya Elliott, Ren Klyce, David Parker

Special Visual Effects
Tenet, Scott Fisher, Andrew Jackson, Andrew Lockley – (WINNER)
Greyhound, Pete Bebb, Nathan Mcguinness, Sebastian Von Overheidt
The Midnight Sky, Matt Kasmir, Chris Lawrence, David Watkins
Mulan, Sean Faden, Steve Ingram, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury
The One And Only Ivan, Santiago Colomo Martinez, Nick Davis, Greg Fisher

British Short Animation
The Owl And The Pussycat, Mole Hill, Laura Duncalf – (WINNER)
The Fire Next Time, Renaldho Pelle, Yanling Wang, Kerry Jade Kolbe
The Song Of A Lost Boy, Daniel Quirke, Jamie Macdonald, Brid Arnstein

British Short Film
The Present, Farah Nabulsi – (WINNER)
Eyelash, Jesse Lewis Reece, Ike Ike Newman
Lizard, Akinola Davies, Rachel Dargavel, Wale Davies

Lucky Break, John Addis, Rami Sarras Pantoja
Miss Curvy, Ghada Eldemellawy

Production Design
Mank, Donald Graham Burt, Jan Pascale – (WINNER)
The Dig, Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana Macdonald
The Father, Peter Francis, Cathy Featherstone
News Of The World, David Crank, Elizabeth Keenan
Rebecca, Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer

Makeup & Hair
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Matiki Anoff, Larry M. Cherry, Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal – (WINNER)
The Dig, Jenny Shircore
Hillbilly Elegy, Patricia Dehaney, Eryn Krueger Mekash, Matthew Mungle
Mank, Kimberley Spiteri, Gigi Williams
Pinocchio, Mark Coulier

Costume Design
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Ann Roth – (WINNER)
Ammonite, Michael O’connor
The Dig, Alice Babidge
Emma, Alexandra Byrne
Mank, Trish Summerville

Casting
Rocks, Lucy Pardee – (WINNER)
Calm with Horses, Shaheen Baig
Judas and the Black Messiah, Alexa L. Fogel
Minari, Julia Kim
Promising Young Woman, Lindsay Graham Ahanonu, Mary Vernieu
The 74th edition of the BAFTAs was opened by paying tribute to the late Prince Philip, who died yesterday at the age of 99. The Duke of Edinburgh was BAFTA’s first president 60 years ago, beginning a line of Royal patronage which continues with his son Prince William, who had been scheduled to make an appearance during the awards but had to pull out after the news of the demise of his grandfather.