The awards season is in full swing and as one show ends, another begins. Just as the Golden Globes concluded, we now have the nominations for the British Academy of Film & Television Awards (BAFTA) which should soon be followed by the big ones: the Oscars.

Leading the race for big-budget movies is Joker. The R-rated comic book film has become an awards darling and after snatching two Golden Globes, looks set to dominate the BAFTAs. Joker has secured an astounding 11 BAFTA nominations and in major categories nonetheless. It has been nominated for Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Original Score, Best Casting, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Production Design, Best Make Up & Hair and Best Sound. At this stage, it’s almost guaranteed to win a few, perhaps some major ones.

Two of the final chapters in popular franchises contend for visual effects. Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker picked up three nominations for Best Original Score, Best Sound and Best Visual Effects. The original score nod is particularly touching since this will mark the last Star Wars film to be scored by the legendary John Williams. Avengers: Endgame and The Lion King also picked up one nomination each, expectedly for Best Visual Effects.

Among the other movies dominating the charts are Sam Mendes’ war epic 1917 with a total of 9 nominations, including the major ones for Best Film and Director as well as for Best British Film (I have a strong feeling it could take home this one), Martin Scorcese’s The Irishman with 10 nominations including two for supporting actors tied with Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood for the number of nominations.

The BAFTAs will be telecast on Sunday, February 2, 2020. We’ll try and post the winners.