German remake of All Quiet On The Western Front leads Bafta nominations

LONDON – A German remake of the 1930 anti-war classic All Quiet On The Western Front led nominations for the British Academy Film Awards (Baftas) on Thursday, overtaking other award season favourites with 14 nods.

Based on the epic 1928 novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque

about the horrors of conflict during World War I,

the 2022 Netflix movie was recognised in the best film category, as well as for films not in the English language, director, supporting actor, adapted screenplay, original score and other craft and technical prizes.

It equals the Lee Ang martial-arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) as a film not in the English language that has garnered the most nominations in Baftas’ history, organisers said.

Malte Grunert, producer of All Quiet On The Western Front, told Reuters the nominations in 14 categories were “unbelievably special”, saying “when looking at who we are up against and the other nominees, we really are in the best company”.

“And these 14 nominations put us on a par with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which is one of my favourite films, and that is a huge honour and a great joy.”

Ms Anna Higgs, chair of the Bafta Film Committee, said cinema viewers were watching a broader range of films, adding: “We’re really getting to a stage where subtitles aren’t considered scary anymore, and actually the power of cinema can communicate across borders and cultures.”

The last non-English-language movie that won the Bafta best film prize

was Netflix’s Roma in 2019.

Dark comedy The Banshees Of Inisherin and the dimension-hopping Everything Everywhere All At Once each secured 10 nominations.

Banshees, a tale of two feuding friends on a remote island off the coast of Ireland, received nominations for leading actor Colin Farrell, as well as supporting cast members Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan and Kerry Condon.

That film and Steven Spielberg’s coming-of-age story The Fabelmans

were the two big winners at the Golden Globes

earlier in January, but the latter received just one Bafta nod, for original screenplay.

Everything Everywhere All At Once secured nominations for leading actress Michelle Yeoh – who also starred in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – supporting actress Jamie Lee Curtis and supporting actor Ke Huy Quan, as well as for best film, original screenplay and director for Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.

Australian director Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic, Elvis, came in third with nine nominations, including best film and a leading actor recognition for Austin Butler.

Drama Tar, in which actress Cate Blanchett plays a gay conductor of a Berlin orchestra whose career comes tumbling down due to an abuse scandal, had five nods, including for best film, director, original screenplay and leading actress.

Box-office hits Avatar: The Way Of Water and Top Gun: Maverick received nominations in technical categories.

Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Woman King) is the only woman in the running for the director award, but the outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer category features all female nominees.

Britain’s top movie honours will be awarded on Feb 19 in London. REUTERS