British Film Awards Seek Higher Profile

In the context of movie awards ceremonies, one hesitates to use the phrase “The British are coming!” Screenwriter Colin Welland, brandishing his Oscar statuette for “Chariots of Fire” 20 years ago, said just that, with a global television audience watching. The infamous phrase would come to haunt him; it ushered in a wretched period for British movies that lasted several years.

But now the British really are coming--in a much different context. This time around, it’s their leading movie awards that are making their presence felt in America.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts, popularly known as BAFTA, has been handing out annual awards to home-grown and international films since 1947. In Britain, the awards ceremony has gained a much higher profile in recent years. But now plans are afoot to take the British academy a stage further. BAFTA Chief Executive Amanda Berry recently achieved a major priority--to secure an American TV deal. E! Entertainment has agreed to carry BAFTA’s annual awards, which will be held here Sunday. (E! will broadcast the awards next Saturday at 8 p.m., hosted by actor Stephen Fry). In future years, Berry hopes a U.S. network may broadcast the event.

“I think TV is a very important factor,” she said. “The studios are supportive of the event, and they realize its significance. But the next logical step was making it available to be seen in the U.S.”

BAFTA’s power brokers are aware that there is a limit to how visible the British academy can become in America. “We’ll never be as big as the Oscars,” noted BAFTA Chairman Simon Relph. But they genuinely believe they can become recognized as a credible, informed indicator of Oscar voting--possibly more so than the Golden Globes, the annual awards given by members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. (Within the industry, HFPA voters have long been regarded as susceptible to hospitality and considerations from studios promoting movies they wish to suggest for Golden Globe awards.) “There’s a small number of them, aren’t there?” said Berry of the HFPA, which numbers fewer than 100. “But they go two months before the Oscars, which is something I think they’ve been very clever about. And now their awards ceremony is seen every year on network television.”

“One reason we have a lot of respect from the studios is that we have 4,500 members, of whom 2,600 vote in our film awards. We are a similar size to the American academy (which has about 5,700 members). And every one of our voters is someone working inside the industry, someone who has made a significant contribution.”

Until recently, BAFTA’s gala evening was scheduled after the Oscars, and thus was something of an anticlimax and of little help to the studio’s Oscar marketing campaigns. Relph, a film producer whose best-known credit in the U.S. is “Enchanted April,” commented: “I always felt we were at the tag-end of the awards season, and everyone was exhausted. It was hard to get people to come along.” There was another problem: BAFTA’s awards included both TV and films, which made for a cumbersome, overlong ceremony, sometimes beyond four hours.

Those days are gone. A spirit of modernization has swept through the British academy, and it first staged its own separate film awards in 1998. Last year was the first year for an even more radical experiment: The BAFTA awards were moved forward to late February, a month before the Oscars. The switch was judged a success.

Suddenly Hollywood studios are taking a keen interest in BAFTA. Screenings of films likely to compete for awards are organized for them at BAFTA’s well-appointed headquarters on Piccadilly, 100 yards west of Piccadilly Circus, which houses a luxurious theater. Members now also receive regular mailings and videotapes from studios with a very American label attached: “for their consideration.” The thinking behind this change of mood is obvious--a BAFTA award or nomination for a film or its actors helps legitimize its Oscar-worthiness.

Berry, who took over the post 15 months ago, embarked on a tour of Hollywood studios at that time along with BAFTA Vice Chairman Stephen Woolley (who has produced such films as “The End of the Affair” and “Interview With the Vampire”) to drum up support for a February ceremony. “There’s a window in the film world where everyone focuses on films,” she said. “It starts with the Golden Globes and closes with the Oscars. We’d separated our film and TV awards and we felt the timing was right to move the film event pre-Oscars. We needed to know [the studios] would support us.”

To some extent, the British academy relies on the goodwill of Hollywood studios to add luster to its awards evening. The studios can jet American stars to London, and their presence makes the awards a more glittering event.

The entreaties from Berry and Woolley paid off. “The reaction was immediately positive,” Berry said. “[The studios] wanted to support the event. It created problems for them; we asked them to push forward the U.K. release dates for some of their films so they could qualify for the BAFTAs. But on the whole they were phenomenal.”

Having helped Berry win over Hollywood studios, Woolley agreed that establishing a regular U.S. TV slot for the awards is BAFTA’s next priority: “Apart from the Golden Globes, ours is the most important ceremony outside the American academies,” he observed. “If we have any ambition, it would be to try and position ourselves as a better alternative than the Golden Globes. What we’d like is to be seen as a more honest and trustworthy guide to what could well happen in the American academy. That’s where we have our biggest challenge.”

Certainly the BAFTAs carry more prestige than any awards ceremony outside America, more so than say France’s Cesars, in part because they are viewed as more than just a strictly one-nation event. The British academy has a section in its awards devoted to international films and artists.

BAFTA voters traditionally go their own way, often diverging from choices made by Oscar voters. For example, three years ago, Peter Weir’s film “The Truman Show” won three BAFTAs but not a single Oscar. And last year, British teenager Jamie Bell was named best actor by BAFTA voters for his starring role in “Billy Elliot,” beating Tom Hanks, Russell Crowe and Michael Douglas.

But BAFTA voters do not always vote along patriotic lines: Two years ago, they named Pedro Almodovar best director for “All About My Mother,” over British favorite (and Oscar winner) Sam Mendes for “American Beauty.”

This year’s BAFTA nominations, announced this month, confirm this independent streak: “Moulin Rouge” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” head the list of admired films with 12 nominations each. “Amelie” and “Shrek” are among the five nominees for best film (none of which is British, though there is also a separate category for best British film). Kevin Spacey (a huge favorite with BAFTA members) is a best actor nominee for “The Shipping News.” Both Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith are nominated for best supporting actress for their roles in “Gosford Park.”

The British academy has been in existence since 1947, when it was founded by 14 members and chaired by director David Lean (“Lawrence of Arabia”). Most members are affiliated to its London headquarters, but BAFTA has regional branches, including a thriving one in Los Angeles. BAFTA/LA has some 800 members who can also vote on the awards.

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The BAFTA awards can be seen on E! Channel, next Saturday, 8-10 p.m.