BAFTA Awards

The British Academy of Film and Television is the British equivalence of the Oscars and Emmys rolled into one, essentially. They've had a long tradition of handing out awards, as such national Academic bodies do, but only since 1999 have they started to reward their films prior to the Oscars and have, in the years since, proven to be a crucial indicator as a precursor to the Academy Awards. They can be the deciding factors in breaking ties or deciding a very open race.

Look at 2007, for example. National treasure Julie Christie lost out on their Lead Actress prize to French darling Marion Cotillard after what had grown into a real two-way horse race (with Ellen Page as a possible upset). Marion Cotillard managed to take the Oscars. The real clusterfuck that year, however, was in the Best Supporting Actress category where Amy Ryan had been a critics darling for Gone Baby Gone, Cate Blanchett was the industry favorite after having won the Golden Globe for gender bending in I'm Not There, elderly veteran character actress Ruby Dee had won the Screen Actor's Guild prize for essentially a cameo in American Gangster and Tilda Swinton won the BAFTA for Michael Clayton. Guess who won the Oscar that year?

In Round 1 of voting, the BAFTA members release a longlist of 15 names and films per category that, in Round 2, they whittle down to 5. They denote, however, which films made the top 5 in each category except for Best Film in Round 1, which tends to mirror the final nominations about 75% of the time. The final nominations for the BAFTA should be released close to 3 a.m. EST, so I feel like I might as well attempt to predict them even though I've never done such a thing. So don't take these very seriously.

Best Film
Another Year
Black Swan
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network

Director
Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Christopher Nolan, Inception
Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
David Fincher, The Social Network

Leading Actor
Colin Firth, The King's Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jim Broadbent, Another Year
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

Leading Actress
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Carey Mulligan, Never Let Me Go
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Noomi Rapace, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Tilda Swinton, I Am Love

Supporting Actor
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
Christian Bale, The Fighter
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Pete Postlethwaite, The Town

Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Lesley Manville, Another Year
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Miranda Richardson, Made in Dagenham

Original Screenplay
Another Year
Black Swan
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech

Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours
The Ghost
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit

Animated Film
How To Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Original Music
127 Hours
How To Train Your Dragon
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network

Cinematography
Black Swan
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

Production Design
Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 1
Inception
The King's Speech

Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
The King's Speech
Made in Dagenham
True Grit

Editing
127 Hours
Black Swan
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network

Sound
127 Hours
Black Swan
Inception
Toy Story 3
True Grit

Special Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 1
Inception
Monsters
TRON: Legacy

Make up & Hair
Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 1
The King's Speech