Riz Ahmed bags BAFTA leading actor nomination for Sound of Metal

After coming under fire for lack of racial and gender diversity in its 2020 nominations, British film awards BAFTA has announced a 2021 lineup which being being touted as its most diverse ever.

BBC and CNN have both said called this year’s nominations ‘hugely diverse’.

This year, South Asian representation includes Riz Ahmed bagging a nomination for leading actor for Sound of Metal and Adarsh Gourav for The White Tiger.

Similarly, this year there are four women nominees in the director category, which is a first for the awards. Shannon Murphy has been nominated for Babyteeth, Chloé Zhao for Nomadland, Jasmila Žbanić for Quo Vadis, Aida? and Sarah Gavron for Rocks. Zhao and Žbanić are both women of colour.

This has garnered a lot of praise internationally. “Today’s BAFTA film nominations are really refreshing; for the first time they feel like a true meritocracy. In contrast to what we have seen in the past, this list isn’t about films that have had the most money spent on their campaigns — this is about the BAFTA membership recognising craft and talent across the board,” director and Vice-Chair of Directors UK Susanna White said, according to Deadline.

Other nominations for actors of colour include Rocks' Kosar Ali and Judas and the Black Messiah's Dominique Fishback for 'supporting actress' and and Tahar Rahim of The Mauritanian for 'leading actor'.

The Awards will be held virtually on April 11.