Two gay dramas get 2018 BAFTA nominations

Two acclaimed gay love stories – Call Me By Your Name and God’s Own Country – have received nominations for the 2018 British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs).

The nominations were announced in London on Tuesday, for what is seen as Britain’s equivalent of Hollywood’s Academy Awards.

While it disappointingly failed to take home any awards at the recent Golden Globes, Call Me By Your Name received major BAFTA nominations.

This includes Best Film and Best Director, for Luca Guadagnino. Twenty-two-year-old star Timothée Chalamet was nominated in the Best Actor and the Rising Star award categories.

Finally, the film was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay (based on André Aciman’s novel).

While Call Me By Your Name has received wide critical praise, it has also come under fire for its depiction of a love affair between a 17-year-old boy and a 24-year-old man.

The film is a coming of age story about Elio, a teenager spending the summer in Italy (played by Chalamet), who falls in love with Oliver (Armie Hammer), an American academic.

The UK-made God’s Own Country – described by some as the ‘British Brokeback Mountain‘ – was nominated for Outstanding British Film.

It tells the story of young Yorkshire sheep farmer (Josh O’Connor), whose life is transformed by a turbulent affair with a Romanian migrant worker (Alec Secareanu). Twenty-seven-year-old O’Connor is also up for the Rising Star award (this category is voted for by the public).

God’s Own Country has previously won a number of British Independent Film Awards, including Best British Independent Film, Best Actor (O’Connor) and Best Debut Screenwriter (Francis Lee).

The Shape of Water dominated this year’s BAFTA nominations in 12 categories. It was followed by Darkest Hour and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri which both received nine nominations, and Blade Runner 2049 and Dunkirk with eight.

I, Tonya received five nominations, Call Me by Your Name and Phantom Thread got four each, while Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, Lady Bird and Paddington 2 received three nominations each.

The EE British Academy Film Awards takes place on Sunday 18 February at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The ceremony will be hosted by Joanna Lumley.

Call Me By Your Name is released in South Africa on 23 February. There is currently no local cinema release scheduled for God’s Own Country.