Charlie Clift/Bafta
The hashtag #BaftaSoWhite was once again circulating on social media following Sunday night’s BAFTA Film Awards.
Anger at the lack of diversity among the award winners smoldered around a group photo of all the award winners on the stage in the Royal Festival Hall in London.
Observers pointed out that the picture appeared to show 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 shows that major awards shows “seem to appreciate European storylines about Europeans or white Americans.”
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Here are the winners of the 2023 BAFTAs. The black woman is a presenter. Not even the Oscar/GoldenGlobe winners Michelle Yeoh, Angela Basset, Viola Davis or Ke Huy Quan could assert themselves. All rating systems have biases, but this one is broken.
I’m not proud to be a BAFTA member today. pic.twitter.com/3A2IGewjHh
— Del @ NaughtyDog (@TheCartelDel) February 19, 2023
Ashanti Omkar, a film TV commentator and BAFTA member, said the group shot caused “a deep pain in the pit of my stomach.”
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Disappointed!! I’ve been feeling this deep pain in the pit of my stomach lately when I see this #Movie Industry behind the scenes and the supremacy so much displayed to me day in and day out so it’s not a surprising result, but in 2023 it’s deeply regressive and misplaced ↓ https://t.co/j9aT8ZHcKW
— A$hanti OMkar ௐ London, you | You, Film & TV Critic (@AshantiOmkar) February 19, 2023
Saima Mohsin, a Sky News and ITV presenter, added:
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I watched clips from #BAFTAS and didn’t see a single black or brown person win
Not because they’re not white, but because they’re good, really good, and the best. In so many categories.
Always overlooked and ignored
So depressing
Unconscious bias & systemic#BaftasSoWhite— Saima Mohsin (@SaimaMohsin) February 20, 2023
MTV Movies UK presenter Hanna Ines Flint described it as “qwhite a night”, while Bectu union leader Philippa Childs remarked: “These @BAFTA voting changes are yet to have an impact I see.”
The concern follows BAFTA, which is paying close attention to promoting diversity during its film awards process, with chairman Krish Majumdar making it one of his top priorities.
A grueling diversity review resulted in 120 changes to the voting, membership and campaigning process, including increasing the films watched by voters and adding 1,000 members from underrepresented backgrounds.
The organization said 40% of this year’s incumbent nominees were from ethnic backgrounds after all 20 nominees were white in 2020, as winner Joaquin Phoenix said in his acceptance speech that the industry needs to work hard to “really end systemic racism.” to understand”.
Viola Davis lost to Cate Blanchett in the Lead Actress category. Daryl McCormack, the son of a white Irish mother and a black American father, competed with Austin Butler for the lead role.
There is a sense at BAFTA that similar winners are crowned at other ceremonies where white cast and creator directed films such as All Quiet on the Western Front are expected to dominate. However, that overlooks the success of Everything Everywhere All at Once, which did well at the DGA Awards.
BAFTA declined to comment.