2025 BAFTA Longlist Predictions: Expect Big Numbers for ‘The Brutalist,’ ‘Emilia Pérez,’ ‘Kneecap’ and More

As we near the end of the year, it’s merely a matter of days before awards season really kicks off and doesn’t let up for the next two months. We have our Gotham Awards winners and our nominations from the Spirit Awards, Golden Globes and Critics Choice, alongside the dozens of critics awards announcements already revealed, and more.

On January 3, BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) will release their longlists – films and performances that will be eligible for BAFTA nominations – much like the Oscars do with the 10 categories they’ve provided shortlists for (we call them shortlists here, longlists across the pond) and they’re as crucial as anything can be in the predicting game. Giving us a sharper look at some of the potential international flare they can inject and coupled with the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) and London Film Critics Circle (LFCC), we can start to see where BAFTA will crossover with Globes and CCA and where they’ll go out on their own, at least at this stage.

With BAFTA in a state of ever-evolving voting structures after expanding their membership and efforts for more racially and diverse nomination lineups, here’s a quick breakdown as to how the longlists and final nominations happen: for best film, the top 10 vote-getters – determined by the entire BAFTA membership – will make the longlist, which will eventually be narrowed to five nominees.

In acting categories, the top seven vote-getters automatically make the longlist, while a jury decides the final three slots from those ranked eighth through 13th. The top six are selected solely by chapter votes, without jury involvement, for final nominations.

The director category works on a strict and specific gender line as the five men and five woneb who earn the most votes make the longlist, with no jury input. If a nonbinary director or a male-female directing is among the top 10, an 11th spot is added.

But it’s good to not be too swept up in some of the longlist appearances. Last year, All of Us Strangers dominated the BIFAs with seven wins and turned 10 BAFTA longlist mentions into six BAFTA nods but wound up with zero Oscar nominations. That goes for the handful of films that could be very popular at this stage, on this stage, like Blitz, Love Lies Bleeding, or Kneecap, that seem to have a harder path to the Dolby than they will Albert Hall.

The acting chapter’s voting closed just before the holiday, on December 23, while the remaining categories have until December 30. As mentioned, the BAFTA longlist will be announced on January 3, 2025. Voting for nominations opens the same day and closes on January 10, with the final nominations announcement on January 15 – just two days after Oscar voting ends.

Here are my predictions for the 2025 BAFTA longlists, in alphabetical order.

BEST FILM

1. All We Imagine as Light
2. Anora
3. The Brutalist
4. A Complete Unknown
5. Conclave
6. Dune: Part Two
7. Emilia Pérez
8. Kneecap
9. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
10. Wicked

Spoilers: Nickel Boys, Nosferatu, Sing Sing, The Substance

DIRECTING (Female)

1. Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine as Light
2. Halina Reijn, Babygirl
3. Andrea Arnold, Bird
4. Rose Glass, Love Lies Bleeding
5. Coralie Fargeat, The Substance

Spoilers: Zoë Kravitz, Blink Twice; Alice Rohrwacher, La chimera; Ellen Kuras, Lee; Rungano Nyoni, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl; Nora Fingsheidt, The Outrun

DIRECTING (Male)

1. Sean Baker, Anora
2. Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
3. Edward Berger, Conclave
4. Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez
5. Mohammad Rasoulof, The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Spoilers: James Mangold, A Complete Unknown; Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part Two; Rich Peppiatt, Kneecap; RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys

LEADING ACTOR

1. Kingsley Ben-Adir, Bob Marley: One Love
2. Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
3. Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
4. Daniel Craig, Queer
5. Jonno Davies, Better Man
6. Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
7. Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain
8. Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
9. Hugh Grant, Heretic
10. Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice

Spoilers: Barry Keoghan, Bring Them Down; Jude Law, The Order; Cillian Murphy, Small Things Like These; Josh O’Connor, La chimera; Jesse Plemons, Kinds of Kindness; Sebastian Stan, A Different Man

LEADING ACTRESS

1. Susan Chardy, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
2. Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
3. Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez
4. Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths
5. Angelina Jolie, Maria
6. Nicole Kidman, Babygirl
7. Mikey Madison, Anora
8. Demi Moore, The Substance
9. Saoirse Ronan, The Outrun
10. Kate Winslet, Lee

Spoilers: Marisa Abela, Back to Black; Julianne Moore, The Room Next Door; Tilda Swinton, The Room Next Door; Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here; Zendaya, Challengers

SUPPORTING ACTOR

1. Jonathan Bailey, Wicked
2. Yura Borisov, Anora
3. Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
4. Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing
5. Barry Keoghan, Bird
6. Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown
7. Guy Pearce, The Brutalist
8. Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice
9. Stanley Tucci, Conclave
10. Denzel Washington, Gladiator II

Spoilers: Sergio Castillo, Conclave; Harris Dickinson, Babygirl; Paapa Essiedu, The Outrun; Mark Eydelshteyn, Anora; Karren Karagulian, Anora; Josh O’Connor, Challengers; Adam Pearson, A Different Man; Franz Rogowski, Bird; Peter Sarsgaard, September 5; Drew Starkey, Queer

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1. Michele Austin, Hard Truths
2. Danielle Deadwyler, The Piano Lesson
3. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Nickel Boys
4. Selena Gomez, Emilia Pérez
5. Ariana Grande-Butera, Wicked
6. Felicity Jones, The Brutalist
7. Margaret Qualley, The Substance
8. Saoirse Ronan, Blitz
9. Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
10. Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez

Spoilers: Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown; Jessie Buckley, Wicked Little Letters, Elle Fanning, A Complete Unknown; Andrea Riseborough, Lee; Isabella Rossellini, La chimera; Emily Watson, Small Things Like These

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1. A Complete Unknown
2. Conclave
3. Dune: Part Two
4. Emilia Pérez
5. I’m Still Here
6. Nickel Boys
7. The Room Next Door
8. Sing Sing
9. Wicked
10. The Wild Robot

Spoilers: Gladiator II, Nosferatu, Queer

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1. All We Imagine as Light
2. Anora
3. The Brutalist
4. Challengers
5. Hard Truths
6. Kneecap
7. A Real Pain
8. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
9. September 5
10. The Substance

Spoilers: Babygirl, Blitz, La chimera, Wicked Little Letters

EDITING

1. Anora
2. Challengers
3. Civil War
4. Conclave
5. Dune: Part Two
6. Emilia Pérez
7. Kneecap
8. Nickel Boys
9. September 5
10. The Substance

Spoilers: Babygirl, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

CINEMATOGRAPHY

1. Blitz
2. The Brutalist
3. Challengers
4. Conclave
5. Dune: Part Two
6. Emilia Pérez
7. Maria
8. Nickel Boys
9. Nosferatu
10. Queer

Spoilers: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Gladiator II, The Room Next Door

PRODUCTION DESIGN

1. Blitz
2. The Brutalist
3. Civil War
4. Conclave
5. Dune: Part Two
6. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
7. Gladiator II
8. Maria
9. Nosferatu
10. Wicked

Spoilers: The Assessment, Emilia Pérez, Queer

COSTUME DESIGN

1. Blitz
2. The Brutalist
3. A Complete Unknown
4. Dune: Part Two
5. Firebrand
6. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
7. Gladiator II
8. Maria
9. Nosferatu
10. Queer

Spoilers: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Emilia Pérez, Saturday Night

ORIGINAL SCORE

1. Blitz
2. The Brutalist
3. Challengers
4. Emilia Pérez
5. Conclave
6. Gladiator II
7. Nosferatu
8. The Room Next Door
9. The Wild Robot
10. Young Woman and the Sea

Spoilers: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Nickel Boys, Wicked

SOUND

1. Alien: Romulus
2. Better Man
3. Blitz
4. Civil War
5. Conclave
6. Dune: Part Two
7. Emilia Pérez
8. Gladiator II
9. Kneecap
10. Wicked

Spoilers: Deadpool & Wolverine, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Joker: Folie à Deux, Nickel Boys

MAKEUP & HAIR

1. The Apprentice
2. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
3. Deadpool & Wolverine
4. A Different Man
5. Dune: Part Two
6. Emilia Pérez
7. Firebrand
8. Maria
9. Nosferatu
10. The Substance

Spoilers: Back to Black, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Queer

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

1. Alien: Romulus
2. Better Man
3. Blitz
4. Civil War
5. Deadpool & Wolverine
6. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
7. Gladiator II
8. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
9. A Quiet Place: Day One
10. Wicked

Spoilers: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Queer

CASTING

1. Anora
2. Bird
3. Emilia Pérez
4. Hoard
5. Julie Keeps Quiet
6. Kneecap
7. Love Lies Bleeding
8. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
9. Saturday Night
10. Unicorns

Spoilers: Wicked Little Letters, Queer

ANIMATED FILM

1. Flow
2. Inside Out 2
3. The Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim
4. Memoir of a Snail
5. Moana 2
6. Piece by Piece
7. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
8. The Wild Robot

Spoilers: Despicable Me 4, Transformers One

DOCUMENTARY

1. The Bibi Files
2. Black Box Diaries
3. The Contestant
4. Dahomey
5. Daughters
6. Grand Theft Hamlet
7. No Other Land
8. Porcelain War
9. The Remarkable Life of Ibelin
10. Sugarcane

Spoilers: Copa 71, Frida, Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other, Witches

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

1. All We Imagine as Light
2. La chimera
3. Emilia Pérez
4. The Girl with the Needle
5. I’m Still Here
6. Santosh
7. The Seed of the Sacred Fig
8. Touch
9. Universal Language
10. Vermiglio

Spoilers: Dahomey, Flow, No Other Land

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

1. Bird
2. Blitz
3. Civil War
4. Conclave
5. Gladiator II
6. Hard Truths
7. Hoard
8. Kneecap
9. Lee
10. Love Lies Bleeding
11. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
12. The Outrun
13. Paddington in Peru
14. Santosh
15. We Live in Time

Spoilers: Firebrand, Freud’s Last Session, That Christmas, Unicorns, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Wicked Little Letters

OUTSTANDING BRITISH DEBUT BY A WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

1. Black Dog
2. Bring Them Down
3. The Contestant
4. Grand Theft Hamlet
5. Hoard
6. Kneecap
7. Monkey Man
8. On Falling
9. Santosh
10. Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other

Spoilers: Copa 71, In Camera, Layla, Sister Midnight, Treading Water

• Author
• Recent Posts

Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

Latest posts by Erik Anderson (see all)

• 2025 BAFTA Longlist Predictions: Expect Big Numbers for ‘The Brutalist,’ ‘Emilia Pérez,’ ‘Kneecap’ and More - December 26, 2024
• 2024 North Texas Film Critics Association (NTFCA) Nominations - December 24, 2024
• 2024 Online Association of Female Film Critics (OAFFC) Winners: ‘The Substance” Dominates - December 23, 2024