The 1920s Chicago-set jazz drama Ma Rainey's Black Bottom won two awards at the opening of the Baftas on Saturday, in a year with a laser focus on diversity.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts ceremony is being held virtually over two nights due to the coronavirus pandemic, preventing the usual celebrity-packed show and live audience.
Saturday's opening mainly focused on the crafts side of filmmaking and handed out nine awards.
Ma Rainey, starring Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman, won for costume design, and make-up and hair. Hollywood throwback Mank won for production design.
Other prizes went to coming-of-age story Rocks, thriller Tenet and Sound of Metal about a drummer losing his hearing. Actor Noel Clarke received the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema award.
The main prizes will be announced on Sunday, when director Ang Lee will receive the Bafta Fellowship. American recession drama Nomadland and Rocks had led the nominations with seven nods each.
After outcry last year when Bafta presented an all-white acting contenders list, more than half of this year's 24 nominees are actors of colour.
Nomadland, about a community of van-dwellers, is in the running for Best Film, Leading Actress for its star Frances McDormand, and Best Director for Chinese-born Chloe Zhao, one of four women out of six nominees in that category.
The other Best film contenders are 1960s Vietnam War protest drama The Trial of the Chicago 7, #MeToo revenge black comedy Promising Young Woman, dementia drama The Father and Guantanamo Bay movie The Mauritanian.
I think we could get some surprises on [on Sunday]
So far Nomadland and The Trial of the Chicago 7 have won top prizes at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards respectively.
"Most years you have an idea and you're not normally that far wrong because you've been watching momentum of certain films gather speed," Alex Ritman, UK correspondent for The Hollywood Reporter, told Reuters.
"This year has been very peculiar and ... I think we could get some surprises on [on Sunday]."
McDormand and Vanessa Kirby, who plays a grieving mother in Pieces of a Woman, are the only two Leading Actress contenders also nominated for an Oscar for those same roles.
Bafta surprised many when it named Bukky Bakray for Rocks, Radha Blank for The Forty-Year-Old Version, Wunmi Mosaku for His House and Alfre Woodard for Clemency as their competition.
Leading Actor nominees include Riz Ahmed for Sound of Metal, and Boseman, who has posthumously won numerous prizes for portraying an ambitious trumpet player in Ma Rainey.
The others are Adarsh Gourav for The White Tiger, Anthony Hopkins for The Father, Mads Mikkelsen for Another Round and Tahar Rahim for The Mauritanian, one of several films Bafta has recognised but which has been overlooked by other awards events.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA
Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi
Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser
Rating: 4.5/5
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
More from Neighbourhood Watch
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
