BAFTA Film Awards Celebrations Kick Off In London: Who, What, When & Where

Nancy Tartaglione
·4 min read

BAFTA weekend has arrived, and with it the kickoff of key celebrations ahead of the BAFTA Film Awards on Sunday night, which will then be followed by a host of glitzy afterparties well into the wee hours of Monday morning. The awards themselves will be handed out beginning at 5pm local time on Sunday at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.

The ceremony, hosted by David Tennant (taking over from Richard E. Grant in 2023, and Rebel Wilson before him), will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from 7pm local, a two-hour delay from the start of the live proceedings. Contrary to last year, the final four categories will not be broadcast in real time. Britbox is airing the Film Awards in the U.S.

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In 2022, the Critics Choice Awards were held in Los Angeles on the same night as the BAFTAs, causing some disruption for nominees. Last year, the Directors Guild of America handed out its prizes the night before. This year, the Annie Awards are the only overlap.

While BAFTA held its annual fundraising gala earlier this week, the weekend honoring nominees starts in earnest today with AppleTV+ hosting a brunch for the second year running. Apple Original Films have 14 nods in total, including for Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon.

Later, Saturday evening’s highly elevated pub crawl starts with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences reception at the Dorchester Hotel (moving from last year’s venue at Claridge’s in Mayfair). The event honors AMPAS’ Oscar nominees and is an opportunity for BAFTA contenders who are up for Oscars to rub shoulders and be seen ahead of the Academy Awards ballot deadline on February 27.

From there, those on the list will head to The National Gallery for BAFTA’s annual nominees do. This is the second year BAFTA is holding the well-attended three-hour drinks and hors d’oeuvres event in the museum, following a long stretch at Kensington Palace and a brief stint at the academy’s 195 Piccadilly headquarters.

Then, for some, it’s off to Charles Finch’s exclusive annual dinner, held in partnership with Chanel at 5 Hertford Street to celebrate a great year of film and fashion.

On Sunday, and immediately following the awards, BAFTA will host its post-ceremony dinner at the Royal Festival Hall, its sophomore go after moving from Grosvenor House last year. There’s a BAFTA after party on site following the meal.

From around 10pm, there is a tantalizing roster when it comes to studios and streamers pulling out the stops for their own events to celebrate their nominees and maybe winners on Sunday (outside the studios, Vogue will host a do in partnership with Tiffany & Co at Annabel’s).

High on everyone’s list is the Universal and Focus shindig which will take place at the NoMad hotel in Covent Garden. NBCUniversal Studio Group Chair and Chief Content Officer Donna Langley will be in town to toast the studio’s nominees from Oppenheimer to The Holdovers and Earth Mama (including films from Focus, Uni has 21 nominations going into Sunday). To our recollection, there’s not yet been a major BAFTA party held at the hotel which opened in May 2021.

Over in their usual digs, and in a party that’s a must-stop, Searchlight will be at Soho House on Greek Street to celebrate its 19 nominations including for Poor Things, All of Us Strangers and Rye Lane. This is a combo get-together as it has grown in recent years, meaning a host of studios, streamers and indie distributors will populate the multi-tiered property. Along with Searchlight, they include Disney, Paramount, Sony, Lionsgate, Amazon, Studiocanal, Sky, Mubi and Dogwoof. Among the nominated films from that group are Elemental, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Anatomy of a Fall, Saltburn, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, Ferrari, How to Have Sex and 20 Days in Mariupol.

Around the corner, Warner Bros will turn up the pink for its annual cocktail at Kettner’s. The studio has eight nominations heading into the awards, including five for Barbie. Although 2023’s highest grossing movie was snubbed in Best Film and Director, Greta Gerwig, who is up for Orignal Screenplay, turned up at the London premiere of WB/Legendary’s Dune: Part Two on Thursday, so odds on are that she will put in an appearance.

And finally, Netflix, with 12 nominations, is again doing a full takeover of the Chiltern Firehouse, honoring such films as Maestro, Rustin and Society of the Snow and welcoming revelers very late into the night.

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