BAFTAs 2023: All Quiet On The Western Front leads the nominations – as Irish talent also shines

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2 years ago

January 19, 2023

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German-language war epic All Quiet On The Western Front leads this year’s BAFTA race – while Irish talent also shines in the acting categories.

An adaptation of the 1929 novel about the First World War, All Quiet On The Western Front is up for 14 awards including best director, supporting actor, adapted screenplay, best film not in the English language, and the big one – best film. It joins Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon as the joint most nominated foreign film in the history of the awards.

Dark comedy The Banshees of Inisherin and sci-fi comedy Everything Everywhere All At Once follow in the BAFTAs race with 10 nods each, while Elvis Presley biopic Elvis has nine, and Tar, starring Cate Blanchett as composer-conductor Lydia Tar, has five. The five most nominated also make up the full nominations list for best film.

In the acting categories, six Irish stars are up for awards: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon, for The Banshees Of Inisherin; Paul Mescal, for Aftersun; and Daryl McCormack – who is also nominated for the previously announced rising star prize – for Good Luck To You, Leo Grande.

Emma Thompson (Good Luck To You, Leo Grande), Bill Nighy (Living), Carey Mulligan (She Said), Eddie Redmayne (The Good Nurse) and Micheal Ward (Empire Of Light) make up the British stars in the running in the acting categories, while other stars to receive nods include Viola Davis (The Woman King), Danielle Deadwyler (Till), and Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once).

BAFTA debuts and one all-female shortlist

First time nominees feature heavily this year, with 14 of the 24 nominees in the performance categories making their BAFTA debut – including Ana De Armas (Blonde), Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Austin Butler (Elvis), Brendan Fraser (The Whale), and Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once), as well as Farrell and Mescal.

Elsewhere, blockbuster releases such as The Batman, Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way Of Water also received a number of nominations in the technical categories, and nominees for outstanding British film include Empire Of Light, The Swimmers and See How They Run, alongside Aftersun, The Banshees Of Inisherin, Living and Good Luck To You, Leo Grande.

In the best director category, four of the six nominees – Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Woman King), Todd Field (Tar), Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All At Once), and Edward Berger (All Quiet On The Western Front) – are shortlisted for the first time. They are up against Martin McDonagh (The Banshees Of Inisherin) and Park Chan-wook (Decision To Leave).

While only one female director is nominated, the outstanding debut category – recognising writing, directing or producing – is made up entirely of female nominees, including Aftersun writer and director Charlotte Wells, and Good Luck To You, Leo Grande writer Katy Brand.

The nominees for the rising star award, the only award voted for by the public, have already been revealed as Aimee Lou Wood, Emma Mackey, Naomi Ackie, Sheila Atim and McCormack.

In total, some 215 nominees represent 45 films, from independent debuts to blockbusters, voted for by BAFTA’s 7,500 voters.

‘A uniquely British perspective’

BAFTA chair Krishnendu Majumdar said the range of films nominated offers a “uniquely British perspective on this year’s best films from around the world”.

Following controversy over a lack of diversity in previous years, Anna Higgs, chair of the organisation’s film committee, said the 2023 nominations show that BAFTA’s “ongoing work to level the playing field continues to have a positive impact”.

She continued: “I’m delighted to see an all-women list in our outstanding debut category, as well as so many first-time nominees across the board.”

The BAFTA film awards will take place on Sunday 19 February at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, with actor Richard E Grant hosting the ceremony and presenter Alison Hammond hosting a new access-all-areas segment.

BAFTA initially said All Quiet On The Western Front had become the most nominated foreign language film ever, but later corrected this as 2000’s Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon also received 14 nominations.

Entertainment

Glastonbury Festival announces changes to ticket buying process

Published

6 hours ago

November 5, 2024

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Glastonbury Festival announces changes to ticket buying process

Glastonbury is changing the way fans can buy tickets for the world-famous festival.

While the booking process itself will remain the same, the way people join it is different.

Organisers warned hopefuls to log in “at least a few minutes” before the sale opens on 14 November, to avoid refreshing the page and not to attempt to game the system by using multiple devices.

Fans must be registered by 5pm GMT on Monday 11 November.

Tickets for the annual event at Worthy Farm in Somerset cost £373.50 plus a £5 booking fee, and are sold exclusively through the See Tickets website, with no third-party sellers involved.

The sale follows chaos earlier this year when tickets for the Oasis reunion went on sale, seeing a multitude of disappointed fans as well as those who felt cheated after being charged hundreds of pounds more for their tickets than was originally advertised.

The festival website explains: “Rather than refreshing the holding page to attempt to access the booking page, this year, when the ticket sale begins (at 6pm or 9am respectively) everyone who is already on the glastonbury.seetickets.com page will randomly be assigned a place in a queue to access the booking process.

“Anyone who logs on once the sale has started will automatically be added to the back of the queue, so it’s important to make sure you are online ready at least a few minutes before the sale opens.

“Once you are in the queue, a progress bar will indicate how close you are to reaching the booking page.

“Please do not refresh this page or use multiple devices or tabs or you may lose your place in the queue.”

Once fans reach the front of the queue and enter their registration details, they will be able to purchase a maximum of six tickets – but they will not have long to do so.

The site warns: “You will have 10 minutes to complete this page before your session expires, however tickets are not allocated at this point.”

It also cautions: “Do not attempt to minimise the tab or open new tabs. If you move away from the tab you are on your session may expire”.

The advice also says that if the amount of traffic on the website is particularly high, users may see a “reduced version of the See Tickets booking site, with a minimal holding page”.

It adds: “This does not mean the site has crashed”.

The site discourages users from using multiple devices to increase their chances of getting tickets, warning it could actively harm getting through.

It says: “Refreshing the page, using multiple tabs or many devices can look like suspicious behaviour and can harm your chances of getting through by triggering anti-bot software; therefore you must stick to one tab/device per IP address and please do not refresh your page once you are in the queue”.

One exception to the refresh rule is if the message, “All available tickets have now been allocated” pops up, at which point refreshing the page will mean any orders that haven’t been processed will go back on sale, and so may become available to buy.

Once the message “SOLD OUT” appears, it’s game over, and no more tickets will be released back for sale.

There will be another chance, however, when any returned tickets go on resale in the spring, offering festival fans a second bite of the cherry.

While next year’s acts won’t be announced until after tickets go on sale, Oasis have already ruled themselves out of performing, telling fans: “Despite media speculation, Oasis will not be playing Glastonbury 2025 or any other festivals next year. The only way to see the band perform will be on their Oasis Live ’25 World Tour.”

2026 is likely to be a fallow year for Glastonbury (a year off), with the festival traditionally taking place four out of every five years, and the fifth year reserved for rehabilitation of the land.

Glastonbury Festival takes place from 25 to 29 June 2025.

Entertainment

Taylor Swift ‘shares extremely important reminder’ to her fans on US election

Published

11 hours ago

November 5, 2024

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Taylor Swift 'shares extremely important reminder' to her fans on US election

Taylor Swift has given a “friendly but extremely important reminder” to her American fans to vote in the presidential election.

The neck-and-neck race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump – which is believed to be the closest since 2000 – has seen US stars throw their weight behind both candidates.

It had been widely speculated that Swift would appear at Ms Harris’s final rally in Pennsylvania – where the 34-year-old singer grew up.

However, the Shake It Off singer was at Arrowhead Stadium to support her boyfriend – NFL star Travis Kelce – who was playing for the Kansas City Chiefs in a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

US election latest: Voting begins for millions of Americans

Oprah Winfrey and Lady Gaga were the big names alongside Ms Harris at her final big event.

Swift’s election reminder came in a post she shared on the eve of polling night, celebrating the wrap of the US leg of her Eras Tour, and sharing images from her last three gigs.

In the Instagram post, the singer wrote: “Thank you to everyone who came out to see us on our last three American shows.

“And here’s a friendly but extremely important reminder that tomorrow is the US election and your last chance to vote.”

She will pick up her tour in Canada next week, with six shows in Toronto and three in Vancouver.

Her record-breaking shows – which have boosted the economy around the globe – will wrap on 8 December.

Swift publicly confirmed her support for Ms Harris in September, sharing the message on social media: “I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”

At the time, Swift also shared links to information on how to register to vote and find out early voting dates, reminding voters: “Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make”.

Shared with a photo of the star cuddling one of her beloved cats, she signed off her post “Childless Cat Lady,” in a nod to Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance’s now infamous 2021 remarks.

Entertainment

Quincy Jones: Oprah Winfrey, Elton John and Barack Obama among famous figures paying tribute to music legend

Published

23 hours ago

November 4, 2024

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Quincy Jones: Oprah Winfrey, Elton John and Barack Obama among famous figures paying tribute to music legend

Oprah Winfrey, Sir Elton John and Barack Obama among the famous figures who have paid tribute to Quincy Jones following his death at the age of 91.

Following the announcement of his death on Monday, a string of friends, collaborators and admirers have been speaking out to praise the music producer and composer.

TV host Oprah Winfrey said her life “changed forever for the better” after meeting Jones as he helped secure her role in the 1985 film adaptation of The Colour Purple, which earned her an Oscar nomination.

Jones, the jazz musician known for collaborating with the likes of Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson, wrote the film score and also co-produced the film.

Winfrey wrote on Instagram: “My beloved Q. The world’s beloved Q. The one and only Quincy Jones ‘discovered’ me for The Color Purple movie in 1985. My life changed forever for the better after meeting him.

“I had never experienced, nor have since, anyone who’s heart was so filled with love.

“He walked around with his heart wide open, and he treated everybody as if they were the most important person he’d ever met. He was the Light. No shadows.

“He was love lived out loud in human form and he was the first person I ever loved unconditionally.”

Whoopi Goldberg, who was also in The Colour Purple, also wrote on Instagram: “I was lucky enough to have him in my life for all these years.

“My heart is breaking for his friends and his extended family who loved and adored him… my condolences.”

Former US president Barack Obama, who honoured Jones with the US National Medal of Arts in 2010, said: “For decades, Quincy Jones was music.

“From producing Thriller, to composing the score for The Color Purple, to working with Frank Sinatra to Ray Charles, it seemed like every big record – and every big film – had Quincy’s name on it.

“His music appealed to listeners of every race and every age. And by building a career that took him from the streets of Chicago to the heights of Hollywood, Quincy paved the way for generations of Black executives to leave their mark on the entertainment business.”

He added: “Michelle and I send our thoughts to Quincy’s friends, family, and everyone who has lived their lives to his songs.”

Sir Elton John remembered Jones as someone who had a more “incredible” career in music than anyone else.

He shared a photo with him at the Elton John Aids Foundation Oscar viewing party, and called him a “loyal supporter of this important fundraiser”.

The singer added: “Nobody had a career as incredible as Quincy Jones. He played with the best and he produced the best. What a guy. Loved him.”

Rapper Ice T hailed Jones as a “genius”, while US Grammy-winner Lenny Kravitz said he was “speechless”, but added: “What a life. What an expression of authenticity. What a teacher. I am humbled that I was given the gift of your openness and friendship”.

Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland thanked Jones for being “such a wonderful teacher” and creating the soundtrack to “some of the most extraordinary moments” in her life.

Jones also helped to launch and was an executive producer on the popular US sitcom The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, starring Will Smith.

Smith said: “Quincy Jones is the true definition of a mentor, a father and a friend. He pointed me toward the greatest parts of myself. He defended me. He nurtured me.

“He encouraged me. He inspired me. He checked me when he needed to. He let me use his wings until mine were strong enough to fly.”

Chic co-founder Nile Rodgers, who was friends with Jones, shared a video that said “Rest In Power Quincy Jones. The Greatest of All Time”.

Peter Hook, the bassist and co-founder of Joy Division and New Order, wrote on social media: “It’s so sad to hear about Quincy Jones. When he signed us to his label, he made us feel so welcome – inviting us to dinner at his home every time we were in town.

“He made us big in America. He was so humble & sweet that you immediately fell in love with him.”

Hook added: “And to this day I still got a lovely message from him every year on Christmas and birthday cards! A musical genius and a great, lovely man.”