2025 BAFTA Nomination Predictions: Expect ‘The Brutalist,’ ‘Conclave,’ ‘Emilia Pérez’ to Lead

Unlike many guild nominations postponements this and last week due to the ongoing fires raging through Los Angeles, across the pond the British Film Academy will present their nominations tomorrow as planned, barring a very last minute change in plans. So with that, it’s time for predictions.

Emilia Pérez and Conclave lead the BAFTA longlists with 15 and 14 mentions, respectively, and I expect them to lead the nominations as well, with 11 apiece including Best Film, Best Director, lead and supporting acting and a host of below the line categories. See the full longlists here The Brutalist, Dune: Part Two, The Substance and Wicked were also top tier longlist favorites and should all show healthy numbers on nomination morning. I’ve predicted The Brutalist to earn 10 nods, Dune: Part Two with eight and both The Substance and Wicked with seven. While we have six slots in the directing and acting categories, we still have just five in key ones like screenplay and the top category, Best Film. While I feel that Anora, The Brutalist, Conclave and Emilia Pérez are virtual locks there, the last spot is trickier. The Substance and Wicked did bigger longlist numbers and, as mentioned above, I expect them to have a good showing with actual nominations. But has the guild showing for A Complete Unknown with SAG and DGA shown us the late-breaker that’s going to actually be in that final spot? I’m thinking it will be but any one of those three are viable possibilities. 

The the EE Rising Star Award nominees this year, which are voted on by the British public, are Marisa Abela, Jharrel Jerome, David Jonsson, Mikey Madison and Nabhaan Rizwan.

EE Rising Star winner Mia McKenna-Bruce and BAFTA winner Will Sharpe will announce the nominations for the 2025 EE BAFTA Film Awards (see YouTube link below) at 12pm GMT / 4am PT. The 78th BAFTA Film Awards will be held on February 16 and hosted by David Tennant.

Here are my predictions.

Best Film

• Anora


• The Brutalist


• A Complete Unknown


• Conclave


• Emilia Pérez

Spoiler: The Substance or Wicked

Best Director

• Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine as Light


• Sean Baker, Anora


• Brady Corbet, The Brutalist


• Edward Berger, Conclave


• Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez


• Coralie Fargeat, The Substance

Spoiler: Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part Two

Best Leading Actor

• Adrien Brody, The Brutalist


• Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown


• Daniel Craig, Queer


• Colman Domingo, Sing Sing


• Ralph Fiennes, Conclave


• Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice

Spoiler: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Bob Marley: One Love or Hugh Grant, Heretic

Best Leading Actress

• Cynthia Erivo, Wicked


• Mikey Madison, Anora


• Karla Sofía Gascon, Emilia Pérez


• Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths


• Demi Moore, The Substance


• Kate Winslet, Lee

Spoiler: Nicole Kidman, Babygirl or Saoirse Ronan, The Outrun

Best Supporting Actor

• Yura Borisov, Anora


• Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain


• Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown


• Guy Pearce, The Brutalist


• Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice


• Stanley Tucci, Conclave

Spoiler: Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing or Denzel Washington, Gladiator II

Best Supporting Actress

• Michele Austin, Hard Truths


• Ariana Grande-Butera, Wicked


• Felicity Jones, The Brutalist


• Margaret Qualley, The Substance


• Isabella Rossellini, Conclave


• Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez

Spoiler: Selena Gomez, Emilia Pérez or Emily Watson, Small Things Like These

Best Casting

• The Apprentice


• Anora


• The Brutalist


• Emilia Pérez


• Kneecap

Spoiler: A Complete Unknown or Blitz

Best Original Screenplay

• Anora


• The Brutalist


• Kneecap


• A Real Pain


• The Substance

Spoiler: All We Imagine as Light or Heretic

Best Adapted Screenplay

• A Complete Unknown


• Conclave


• Dune: Part Two


• Emilia Pérez


• Nickel Boys

Spoiler: Sing Sing or The Outrun

Outstanding British Film

• Back to Black


• Bird


• Blitz


• Civil War


• Conclave


• Gladiator II


• Hard Truths


• Kneecap


• Lee


• The Outrun

Spoiler: Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl or Wicked Little Letters

Outstanding Debut by British Writer, Director or Producer

• Bring Them Down


• Kneecap


• Monkey Man


• Santosh


• The Teacher

Spoiler: Grand Theft Hamlet or Sister Midnight

Children’s & Family Film

• Flow


• Piece By Piece


• Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl


• The Wild Robot


• Young Woman and the Sea

Spoiler: Spellbound or That Christmas

Best Original Score

• The Brutalist


• Conclave


• Emilia Pérez


• The Substance


• The Wild Robot

Spoiler: Blitz or Gladiator II

Best Editing

• Challengers


• Conclave


• Dune: Part Two


• Emilia Pérez


• The Substance

Spoiler: Anora or Kneecap

Best Cinematography

• The Brutalist


• Conclave


• Dune: Part Two


• Emilia Pérez


• Nosferatu

Spoiler: A Complete Unknown or The Substance

Best Production Design

• The Brutalist


• Conclave


• Dune: Part Two


• Nosferatu


• Wicked

Spoiler: Blitz or Gladiator II

Best Costume Design

• Blitz


• Dune: Part Two


• Nosferatu


• Gladiator II


• Wicked

Spoiler: A Complete Unknown or Conclave

Best Makeup and Hair

• Beetlejuice Beetlejuice


• Dune: Part Two


• Nosferatu


• The Substance


• Wicked

Spoiler: The Apprentice or Emilia Pérez

Best Sound

• A Complete Unknown


• Dune: Part Two


• Emilia Pérez


• Gladiator II


• Wicked

Spoiler: Blitz or Civil War

Best Special Visual Effects

• Better Man


• Dune: Part Two


• Gladiator II


• Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes


• Wicked

Spoiler: Alien: Romulus or Deadpool & Wolverine

Best Animated Film

• Flow


• Inside Out 2


• Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl


• The Wild Robot

Spoiler: Memoir of a Snail or Moana 2

Best Documentary

• The Bibi Files


• Black Box Diaries


• Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger


• No Other Land


• The Remarkable Life of Ibelin

Spoiler: Daughters or Elton John: Never Too Late

Best Film Not in the English Language

• All We Imagine as Light


• Emilia Pérez


• I’m Still Here


• Kneecap


• The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Spoiler: La Chimera or The Girl with the Needle

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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.

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• 2025 BAFTA Nomination Predictions: Expect ‘The Brutalist,’ ‘Conclave,’ ‘Emilia Pérez’ to Lead - January 14, 2025
• Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) Nominations: ‘Kneecap’ Dominates with 10 Nods - January 14, 2025