(Adds early winners)
By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
LONDON, April 10 (Reuters) - "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom", a
jazz drama set in 1920s Chicago, won two awards at the opening
of the BAFTAs on Saturday, but the race for the main prizes
remains open with a list of contenders that shines a spotlight
on diversity.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts ceremony is
being held virtually over two nights as the COVID-19 pandemic
prevents the usual celebrity-packed show with a live audience.
Saturday's opening mainly focused on the crafts side of
film-making and handed out nine awards. "Ma Rainey", starring
Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman, won for costume
design and makeup and hair. Hollywood throwback "Mank" won for
production design.
Other prizes went to coming-of-age story "Rocks", thriller
"Tenet" and "Sound of Metal", about a drummer going deaf. Actor
Noel Clarke received the Outstanding British Contribution to
Cinema award.
The main prizes will be announced on Sunday, when director
Ang Lee will receive the BAFTA Fellowship. American recession
drama "Nomadland" and "Rocks" had led the nominations with seven
nods each.
After an outcry last year when BAFTA presented an all-white
acting contenders list, more than half of this year's 24
nominees are actors of colour.
"Nomadland", about a community of van-dwellers, is in the
running for best film, leading actress for its star Frances
McDormand and best director for Chinese-born Chloe Zhao, one of
the four women out of six nominees in that category.
The other best film contenders are 1960s Vietnam War protest
drama "The Trial of the Chicago 7", #Metoo revenge black comedy
"Promising Young Woman", dementia drama "The Father" and
Guantanamo Bay movie "The Mauritanian".
So far "Nomadland" and "The Trial of the Chicago 7" have won
top prizes at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards
respectively.
"Most years you have an idea and you're not normally that
far wrong because you've been watching momentum of certain films
gather speed," Alex Ritman, UK correspondent for The Hollywood
Reporter, told Reuters.
"This year has been very peculiar and ... I think we could
get some surprises on the night."
McDormand and Vanessa Kirby, who plays a grieving mother in
"Pieces of a Woman", are the only two leading actress contenders
also nominated for an Oscar for those same roles.
BAFTA surprised many when it named Bukky Bakray for “Rocks”,
Radha Blank for “The Forty-Year-Old Version”, Wunmi Mosaku for
“His House” and Alfre Woodard for “Clemency” as their
competition.
Leading actor nominees include Riz Ahmed for "Sound of
Metal", and Boseman, who has won numerous prizes for portraying
an ambitious trumpet player in "Ma Rainey".
The others are Adarsh Gourav for “The White Tiger”, Anthony
Hopkins for “The Father”, Mads Mikkelsen for “Another Round” and
Tahar Rahim for “The Mauritanian”, one of several films BAFTA
has recognised but which has been overlooked by other awards
events.
(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Barbara Lewis
and Jonathan Oatis)