Bafta to expand longlist for British film, voting rights in performance categories

Bafta has confirmed the categories, eligibility, voting rules and timeline for the 2027 EE Bafta Film Awards, as submissions open today. 

On categories, eligibility and voting rules, the main changes are to outstanding British film and the four performance categories – expanding the longlist for the former, and giving voting rights to the casting chapter for the latter.

For outstanding British film, Bafta two years ago made this a category for all voters, rather than an opt-in chapter, and commentators have observed a mainstreaming of the longlists and nominations, resulting in 2025 and 2026.

The category remains for all voters, but now there will be a longlist of 20, instead of 15. The top five films will be automatically nominated, and a jury will select five from the remaining 15 to create the usual 10 nominations.

Last year, key UK indie films such as My Father’s Shadow, Wasteman and Urchin all missed the longlist of 15 for outstanding British film, and were thus ineligible to be nominated in the category.

A longer longlist of 20 should give such titles more of a chance in future.

“The British category is our flagship category with the British Academy,” said Emma Baehr, Bafta’s executive director of awards and content. “We want to make sure that we widen the pool for consideration.

“We’ve gone to all members voting in round one, from an opt-in chapter in the past, and I think that’s really important for us that all members are watching more British titles and voting on the longlist, so they are more celebrated.”

For the four performance categories – lead and supporting actor and actress – the casting chapter will now participate in voting alongside the acting chapter, in both the longlisting and nominations rounds. 

Bafta points out that with 700 performances entered across the four acting categories last year, the viewing burden for voters is large. (Casting directors can typically be relied on to view widely and deeply among films submitted for awards.)

“We wanted to increase that chapter so we had more expertise in it, and it made complete sense that the casting directors that have that specialist skill be involved in it,” said Baehr.

In recent years, the top seven choices of the acting chapter were automatically longlisted in each category, and a jury selected three more from the names ranked 8-15. 

For the 2027 awards, this jury will have more sway. The top five choices of the acting/casting chapters will be automatically longlisted in each category, and the jury will select another five per category, selected from those ranked 6-15 in the chapter vote.

Baehr points out that this change brings the category into alignment with outstanding British film – albeit for a different round of voting. (Jurors and voters essentially have equal power in determining the 10 nominees for outstanding British film.)

Family film category

The children’s & family film category, introduced at the 2025 film awards following the axing of Bafta’s Children’s Awards ceremony, will now be renamed just family film.

This is a category that has come in for criticism in its first two years, given the low level of entries, and the significant overlap of nominees with the animated feature category.

Losing the word “children’s” from the category name should encourage more distributors to enter titles – including family-friendly documentary and live-action films.

“We always go and see the studios, distributors and [streaming] platforms every year,” said Baehr. “We go through the rule book. We talk about things that work, didn’t work for them. We take all of that feedback, and we work with the Bafta film committee.

“We’ve done this category now for two years. It’s still fairly new. We have to keep evolving and looking at it. What was positive last year is that we saw 50% live action in the nominations and the longlist, and that was a bit of a challenge in the first year. We saw that increase with the hard work of the team in what was entered.

“It felt the right time with all the feedback that the category [name] reflected the eligibility, which is that the films are for everyone but appealing to children as well.”

The category will remain fully juried – determining the longlist, nominations and winner.

“The jury feedback is essential as well,” said Bafta’s head of film Deirdre Hopkins. “And that fed into the discussion we had with distributors and studios and streamers around the title [of the category]. We will monitor and see how things develop this year.”

Animated feature was a category with an underwhelming of entries last year – only 10 eligible entries.

“We’re talking to all the studios now about what’s coming up [for animated features],” said Baehr. “We’re hearing that there is more coming out, so we will keep it under review. But I think this year we’re going to see an increase.”

“I hope we do,” added Hopkins. “Last year, we had a lower number than we normally would, but I think it was in line with expectations. Hopefully there’ll be more submissions in the category this year.”

Voting timeline

The announced timeline shows Bafta reverting to a similar dating pattern of past years, after the unusual occurrence last year of Bafta nominations announced after Oscar nominations.

In 2027, as in years before the 2026 awards, Bafta nominations will be announced ahead of Oscar nominations – with the two film academies announcing respectively on January 19 and January 21, 2027. See below for Bafta’s full voting timeline. 

Rulebook changes

Today, Bafta also announced some rulebook clarifications and changes in relation to AI, industry standards, descriptive subtitles, and the Britishness of its British categories.

Regarding AI, the rulebook now states: “The Awards are presented annually to recognise, honour and reward individuals for outstanding human achievement in originating, shaping and realising the final artistic outcome, regardless of the tools used to bring this work to life. Where the use of Generative AI or other digital tools is relevant to the consideration of the work, BAFTA reserves the right to request additional information regarding the nature of such use and the extent of human creative involvement.”

Films will be required to provide descriptive subtitled versions before going live on BAFTA View, replacing the previous 10-day grace period and improving accessibility for members. Appeals will be considered.

Bafta is extending its measures to strengthen industry standards and accessibility. Reflecting Bafta’s commitment to levelling the playing field, bullying and harassment policies will continue to be mandatory for British productions. This will be extended in 2027 as Bafta aligns with the work of CIISA (Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority). Entrants will be expected to commit to consistently safe and inclusive working environments. The expectation is that this will become a requirement in future years. 

For outstanding British film, entrants will now be required to complete an interactive points tracker to assess eligibility for each entered film. General information about how a film has qualified as British in the category will now be provided to voters. 

2026 controversy

The 2026 Bafta Film Awards ceremony was overshadowed by the fallout from the racial slur and offensive language uttered involuntarily by Tourette Syndrome campaigner John Davidson, for which Bafta apologised “unreservedly” to actors Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo of Warner Bros’ Sinners.

Baehr addressed the steps the organisation has taken in the subsequent months in response to the independent review it commissioned following the incident.

“From that, a list of recommendations came through that we have worked on, various things about strengthening our operational and our escalation procedures, our contingency procedures, and we have worked on that,” she explained. 

“We’re going to continue to build on that. We work closely with our stakeholders and partners to do that. It is just going to be more robust as we go forward.”

Baehr said all the studios were looking forward to working with Bafta for 2027, in what will be the 80^th anniversary edition of the awards.

“We’ve done our usual debriefs and spoken to all of them. We’re talking about all the entries that come in. Everyone’s very excited about all the new films coming through.”

Additional reporting by Louise Tutt.

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