ORANGE BRITISH ACADEMY FILM AWARDS IN 2011
PRESS INFORMATION
VOTING PROCEDURES
BAFTA’s expert voting membership of over 6300 industry professionals votes online in three
rounds to decide the Film Awards nominations.
Round One
Members vote for their top 12 films/performers in each category.
For Cinematography, Director, Editing, Music, Costume Design, Make Up & Hair,
Production Design, Adapted and Original Screenplays, Sound and Special Visual Effects
and the four performance categories, there are specialist voting chapters consisting of
at least 80 expert members from the relevant fields.
Round Two
The Long List of 15 is sent back out to the voting membership, with the top five of the
relevant chapter highlighted. All members vote again to decide the five nominations.
Round Three
All members vote for the winners of the Best Film, Leading Actor, Leading Actress,
Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Film Not in the English Language categories.
The relevant chapter votes for the winner in the remaining categories.
Exceptions
Film Not in the English Language: nominations are decided by a chapter of members
with an interest in and understanding of world cinema. These nominations were
announced on 7 January. All members vote to decide the winner in Round Three.
Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer: nominations and winner in
this category are decided by a jury.
Short Film and Short Animation: nominations in this category are decided by a jury. This
year, for the first time, the winners are voted for by the Short Film and Animated Film
chapters respectively.
Outstanding British Film: the membership votes for ten films in the first round. The
Academy’s Film Committee then uses the results of the membership vote to inform their
selection of the five nominations. The Committee, supported by a larger jury comprising
selected industry figures, decides the winner.
Animated Film: the membership and animation chapter vote for five films in Round One.
The chapter’s top three, and the next two from the general membership vote are long
listed; these are reduced to three nominations in Round Two. The chapter votes for the
winner.
Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema and the Academy Fellowship: these awards
are in the gift of the Academy. The Fellowship is the highest accolade the Academy can
bestow.
Press Information: Orange British Academy Film Awards in 2011
BRITISH ACADEMY OF FILM & TELEVISION ARTS
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity which exists to support,
develop and promote the art forms of the moving image, by identifying and rewarding
excellence, inspiring practitioners and benefitting the public. The Academy in London
hosts five awards ceremonies, rewarding excellence in Film, Television, Television Craft,
Video Games and Children’s.
The Academy has branches in Scotland, Wales, Los Angeles and New York. Scotland,
Wales and Los Angeles hold their own Awards ceremonies.
Complementing our Awards, BAFTA runs an extensive Learning and Events programme,
which focuses attention on the highest achievements of films, television and video
games programmes shown in the UK each year in order to motivate and inspire those
who make them, and to educate and develop the taste of those who watch. In the last
year the Academy has held over 200 events, with a third of them taking place outside
London.
Who runs the Academy?
The Board of Trustees is the ruling body of the Academy and is currently chaired by Tim
Corrie, with David Parfitt as Deputy Chair. The Academy’s President is HRH Prince William
of Wales and Vice-Presidents are Duncan Kenworthy OBE and Sophie Turner Laing. The
Chief Executive is Amanda Berry OBE.
Each of the sectors of the Academy – Film, Television and Video Games – is represented
by a Committee of industry professionals. The current Chair and Deputy Chair of the Film
Committee are Finola Dwyer and Nik Powell respectively.
The History
The British Film Academy was formed on 16 April 1947 when its 14 founding members met
at the Hyde Park Hotel under the Chairmanship of David Lean. The first Council of
Management read like a who’s who of British film talent: Anthony Asquith, Michael
Balcon, Alexander Korda, Frank Launder, David Lean, Muir Matheson, Ronnie Neame,
Laurence Olivier, Michael Powell, Carol Reed and Paul Rotha.
The first Film Awards ceremony took place in May 1949 and honoured The Best Years of
Our Lives, Odd Man Out and The World is Rich.
The Guild of Television Producers and Directors was set up in 1953 with the first awards
ceremony in October 1954. Winners were awarded Grecian masks, designed by Mitzi
Cunliffe, a version of which remains today as the coveted BAFTA mask.
By 1958, the Academy and Guild recognised shared aims and principles and
amalgamated into the Society of Film and Television Arts. The inaugural meeting of the
new Society of Film and Television Arts was held in December at Buckingham Palace and
presided over by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.
In 1976, Her Majesty The Queen, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, HRH The Princess Royal and
Lord Mountbatten officially opened the headquarters at 195 Piccadilly and, in March,
the Society became officially known as the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
How is the Academy funded?
The Academy relies on income from membership subscriptions, individual donations,
trusts, foundations and corporate partnerships to support its ongoing outreach work. The
Academy is a registered charity.
Press Information: Orange British Academy Film Awards in 2011
BRITISH ACADEMY OF FILM & TELEVISION ARTS
KEY PERSONNEL
AMANDA BERRY OBE
Chief Executive
Amanda was appointed Director of Development and Events of the British Academy of
Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) in October 1998 and, by December 2000, had become its
Chief Executive. In 2009, Amanda was awarded an OBE for services to the film industry.
Amanda has been instrumental in the major changes that BAFTA has undergone in
recent years, successfully positioning it as the pre-eminent charitable body that
educates, promotes and rewards excellence in the art forms of the moving image. She is
publicly credited with instigating the changes that define this modern, forward-looking
Academy as one of the most influential institutions in the arts today. She has continued to
increase sponsorship revenue and successfully placed BAFTA’s annual Film Awards
ceremony on the international stage. Under her leadership, the Academy’s other Awards
ceremonies – the Television, Children’s, Television Craft and Video Games Awards – and
its learning and events programmes have continued to grow in stature, the latter now
delivering in excess of 200 events a year.
Prior to joining BAFTA, Amanda worked as a theatrical agent and in television
production. She was a company director at Duncan Heath Associates (part of the ICM
group) between 1982 and 1988, and her television career began in 1989 when she
worked at LWT. From 1990, Amanda worked extensively as a producer and development
executive for Scottish Television Enterprises, both in Glasgow and in London, where her
credits included three British Academy Awards ceremonies.
TIM CORRIE
Chairman of the Academy
On leaving Bristol University where he was a founder member of the Drama Department,
Tim Corrie went straight to work for John Boorman as his assistant/researcher in BBC
Bristol. He subsequently worked in various capacities on a number of films including
Isadora Duncan (Karel Reisz) and The Adventurers (Lewis Gilbert). This was followed by a
short period at Paramount Pictures in London working alongside Max Setton.
On leaving Paramount, he was invited to join Fraser and Dunlop Scripts, as it then was, to
help develop that agency in the realms of film and television. Tim worked for the
company (which became PFD) for more than thirty years and held the role of CoChairman.
In 2007, along with 80 colleagues, Tim left to found a new agency – United Agents. Here
Tim continues to represent a large list of clients including some of the leading writers,
directors and producers in the country.
Press Information: Orange British Academy Film Awards in 2011
DAVID PARFITT
Deputy Chairman of the Academy
David has worked as an independent film and theatre producer for over 20 years. His film
credits include Henry V, Peter's Friends, Much Ado About Nothing, The Madness of King
George, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Twelfth Night, The Wings of the Dove (both nominated
for four Academy Awards), Shakespeare In Love (winner of seven Academy Awards including
Best Picture and four BAFTAs including Best Film), Gangs of New York (production consultant), I
Capture the Castle, Chasing Liberty and A Bunch of Amateurs. He has just completed
principal photography on My Week with Marilyn, due for release in Autumn 2011.
In April 2007 he co-produced, with Finola Dwyer, the critically acclaimed theatre production
of Elling at The Bush Theatre and in the West End.
Before moving into film and theatre production, David worked as an actor.
FINOLA DWYER
Chairman of the Film Committee
Finola most recently produced An Education, for which she was Oscar-nominated.
Written by best-selling author and screenwriter Nick Hornby and directed by Lone
Scherfig, An Education was nominated for nine BAFTAs, winning Leading Actress, and
nominated for three Oscars, including Best Film.
Since relocating to the UK in the early ’90s, Finola Dwyer’s producer credits include Iain
Softley's BAFTA-winning debut Backbeat; Stephan Elliott's cult favourite Welcome to
Woop Woop; Chris Menges’ The Lost Son, starring Daniel Auteuil and Nastassja Kinski;
Sandra Goldbacher’s BAFTA-nominated Me Without You, starring Anna Friel and Michelle
Williams; Antonia Bird’s Emmy-nominated The Hamburg Cell; and Stephen Woolley’s
feature debut Stoned. Finola produced the Golden Globe, Emmy-nominated and
BAFTA-winning Tsunami: The Aftermath by Abi Morgan, for HBO/BBC, directed by Bharat
Nalluri, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tim Roth, Sophie Okonedo and Toni Collette. She also
executive produced Dean Spanley, directed by Toa Fraser, starring Peter O’Toole, Sam
Neill, Jeremy Northam and Bryan Brown.
Finola made her theatre producing debut with the hit West End and award-winning
production of Elling, starring John Simm. Finola also produced a Broadway production of
the play in 2010, starring Brendan Fraser and Denis O’Hare.
NIK POWELL
Deputy Chairman of the Film Committee
In the early 1970s Nik Powell set up Virgin Records with Richard Branson. In 1982, he
formed Palace Productions with Stephen Woolley and executive produced all
productions, including three Neil Jordan films: the award-winning The Company of
Wolves, the Oscar-nominated and Cannes award-winning Mona Lisa and the Oscarand BAFTA-winning The Crying Game. In 1992 Nik and Stephen formed Scala Productions
where they produced Terence Davies’ The Neon Bible, the Oscar-nominated and
Golden Globe-winning Little Voice by Mark Herman and Fred Schepsi’s Last Orders. Nik’s
last film was Ladies in Lavender starring Dame Judi Dench.
Nik is the Director of the National Film and Television school and Vice Chair of the
European Film Academy.
Press Information: Orange British Academy Film Awards in 2011