La La Land leads BAFTA with 11 nominations

La La Land director Damien Chazelle’s love letter to classic Hollywood musicals, continued its award season triumph by bagging 11 nominations at the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA). The movie, which bagged a record of seven trophies at the just-concluded Golden Globes, seems set to dominate BAFTA’s as well because it has been nominated in every major category. Director Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi drama Arrival and Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals are close on heels with nine apiece.

La La Land, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as two aspiring artists finding romance in Hollywood, has cemented its chances at the next month’s Oscars with by notching up awards and nominations. Both Arrivaland Nocturnal Animals were neglected in the award shows so far despite the critical-acclaim coming their way, reported the Guardian. Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea, which won Casey Affleck the best actor - drama at the Globes, earned six nominations at BAFTA.

I, Daniel Blake, veteran director Ken Loach’s poignant story of an unwell carpenter battling the benefits system, leads the British pack with five nominations.

Its numbers are matched by Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Mel Gibson’s war story Hacksaw Ridge and Lion, starring British-Indian Dev Patel in the lead role. Coming-of-age drama Moonlight, which won the best picture -drama at Globes, earned four nominations alongside Stephen Frears’s Florence Foster Jenkins, starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant.

American Honey, directed by Andrea Arnold, earned a nomination for outstanding British film.