The faces of Bafta award nominees are placed on chairs inside The Royal Opera House ahead of the Bafta Awards during a photocall in London, Britain, 11 February 2016. The ceremony will be hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) on 14 February. EPA/ANDY RAIN
Reposted from The Telegraph
The Baftas, the flagship event in the British film industry calendar, does not feature enough black and ethnic minority nominees, the head of the awards body has admitted.
Amanda Berry, chief executive of Bafta, said that she was backing a protest by black performers that will be held outside tomorrow’s event, as she heaped blame on the film industry for failing to create enough opportunities for ethnic minority actors. Idris Elba is the only black star out of twenty performers who feature in the four main acting categories at tomorrow’s Baftas, and Ms Berry told the Telegraph: “Not enough films are being made with diverse talent in front of the camera. Our industry isn’t diverse enough, so the pool of people to draw award winners from isn’t diverse enough. I want the awards to be as diverse as they possibly can be. But people can only vote on what they’ve seen.
Ms Berry said that the organisation had carried out a survey of the backgrounds of the 6,500 voting members of the academy, and would table proposals for reform after this year’s event. She said: “We will be setting ourselves targets.”
However, it is understood that the organisation will not seek to ensure that its membership reflects society as a whole, but will instead adopt a far less taxing target of reflecting the make-up of the film industry – which is still overwhelmingly white.
Ms Berry said: “A Bafta member needs to have made a significant contribution to the industry. You do need to be working in the industry. We do need a qualified membership.”
Will Smith, the actor, and director Spike Lee are two of the film industry figures who have announced that they will boycott this year’s Oscars ceremony, after no black actors were nominated for the second year in a row. The American awards has been targeted by campaigners, under the banner 'Oscars So White', and a British group representing black film industry figures is to stage a silent protest outside the Baftas, at the Royal Opera House, under the banner 'Bafta Blackout'.
The protest will be led by Leon Herbert, who appeared in the films Batman and Alien 3, and who heads the Creatives of Colour network. He said: “The protest is not against Bafta per se, but against the film industry. The problem is that all the judging panels are white. I want to create a level playing field.”
Ms Berry said that she was backing the protest. She said: “I’m supportive of them. They feel that the industry needs to take notice. They want more opportunity. We want the same.”
Leonardo DiCaprio, Alicia Vikander and Idris Elba are among this year's Bafta nominees. While Elba is the only black star in the major Bafta categories, John Boyega, the young Londoner who appears in the new Star Wars film, features in the rising star category. Ms Berry said that she would not claim that the Baftas were more diverse than the Oscars.
She said: “It would be inappropriate for me to say that we've done a better job than the Oscars. I admire their stance. They've said that they're going to make changes. They know it isn't good enough. I don’t want to gloat and say we’ve done better, because it could’ve gone the other way. I can't control who's nominated.”
The Bafta boss said that she has increased the number of ethnic minority stars who would present awards, to make sure that the ceremony was suitably diverse. The organisation announced earlier this week that the American actress Angela Bassett will present an award, while other black presenters and attendees will include Cuba Gooding Jr and the British actor Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje.
She said: “We always try to make sure that we deliver a programme that has as diverse a cast as possible. And the presenters are something that we can control.”
