A German remake of the anti-war classic “All Quiet On The Western Front” led the British Academy Film Awards nominations on Thursday, topping other awards season favorites with 14 nominations.
Based on German author Erich Maria Remarque’s epic 1928 novel about the horrors of conflict during World War I, the Netflix film (NFLX.O) has been recognized in the best film category, as well as films not in English, director, supporting actor, adapted screenplay, original music, and other craft and technical awards.
It equals 2001’s “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” as the non-English language film that has garnered the most nominations in BAFTA history, organizers said.
Malte Grunert, producer of ‘All Quiet On The Western Front’, told Reuters the nominations in 14 categories were “unbelievably special when you look at who we’re up against and the other nominees, we really are in the best company”.
“And those 14 nominations put us on par with ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,’ which is one of my favorite movies and it’s a huge honor and a great joy.”
Anna Higgs, chair of the BAFTA Film Committee, said Reuters cinema viewers were watching a wider range of films, adding: “We are really getting to a stage where subtitles are no longer seen as scary and in fact, the power of cinema can communicate across borders and cultures.”
The last non-English film to win the BAFTA Best Picture award was Netflix’s ‘Roma’ in 2019.
Dark comedy “The Banshees of Inisherin” and dimension-hopping “Everything Everywhere All At Once” each earned 10 nominations.
“Banshees,” the story of two feuding friends on a remote island off the coast of Ireland, received nominations for lead actor Colin Farrell as well as supporting actors Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon.
This film and Steven Spielberg’s coming-of-age story “The Fabelmans” were the two big winners at the Golden Globes earlier this month, but the latter received just one BAFTA nomination. , for the original screenplay.
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” earned nominations for lead actress Michelle Yeoh, supporting actress Jamie Lee Curtis and supporting actor Ke Huy Quan, as well as best picture, original screenplay and director for Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.
Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic “Elvis” came in third with nine nominations, including Best Picture and A-list actor recognition for Austin Butler.
Drama ‘Tar,’ in which Cate Blanchett plays a gay conductor of a Berlin orchestra whose career is collapsing due to an abuse scandal, got five nods, including Best Picture , director, original screenplay and lead actress.
The box office hits “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “Top Gun: Maverick” received nominations in the technical categories.
Gina Prince-Bythewood (“The Woman King”) is the only woman in the running for the director’s award, but Outstanding Debut in a UK Writer, Director or Producer category all feature female nominees.
Known as BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts), Britain’s top film accolades will be awarded on February 19 in London.