Irish talent features prominently among the nominees for this year’s British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Film Awards, with Hamnet emerging as one of the standout contenders.
The adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s bestselling novel has received 11 nominations in total, including Best Film, Best Director and Outstanding British Film. It also makes BAFTA history as the most-nominated film ever directed by a woman. Director Chloé Zhao collaborated closely with O’Farrell, who was born in Coleraine, and the pair have been shortlisted for Adapted Screenplay.
Jessie Buckley is nominated in the Leading Actress category for her performance in Hamnet, while Paul Mescal has earned a Supporting Actor nomination for his role in the film. Their recognition places them among a strong cohort of Irish nominees across this year’s awards.
Another production with Irish involvement, the school-based drama Steve, is nominated for Outstanding British Film. The film counts Cillian Murphy and Alan Moloney’s Big Things Films among its producers, further highlighting Ireland’s behind-the-scenes presence at the ceremony.
Irish visual effects artist Richard Baneham, already a two-time BAFTA and Oscar winner, is again shortlisted as part of the visual effects team for Avatar: Fire and Ash. Meanwhile, A Want in Her, an acclaimed documentary by Donegal writer-director Myrid Carten, has been nominated for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer. The film is an Irish-British-Dutch co-production.
Dublin-based Element Pictures features prominently across several nominations. The black sci-fi comedy Bugonia has received five nods, including Best Director for Yorgos Lanthimos and acting nominations for Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons. Element Pictures is also involved in Pillion, a dark relationship comedy that has earned three nominations, including Outstanding British Film, and My Father’s Shadow by Akinola Davies Jr, which appears on the Outstanding Debut shortlist.
The Belfast-set short film Nostalgie is nominated in the British Short Film category. The project brings together Belfast-born director Kathryn Ferguson, writers Wendy Erskine and Stacey Gregg, and actor Aidan Gillen.
Further Irish-linked films recognised include Die My Love, which lists writer Enda Walsh among its creative team, and H Is for Hawk, featuring writing contributions from Emma Donoghue and performances by Brendan Gleeson and Denise Gough. Both films are shortlisted for Outstanding British Film.
Elsewhere, the comedy-drama Blue Moon, filmed in Ireland and produced with Dublin-based Wild Atlantic Pictures, has secured a Best Actor nomination for Ethan Hawke. Leading the overall nominations this year is the action-comedy One Battle After Another with 14 nods, narrowly ahead of vampire thriller Sinners.
The BAFTA Film Awards will take place at London’s Royal Festival Hall on Sunday, 22 February.
