LONDON, Jan 16 — Conclave and Emilia Perez yesterday led the shortlist of films battling for recognition at Britain's BAFTA awards, as the race for Oscars glory gathers pace.

Conclave, a fictionalised account of high-stakes horse-trading in the Vatican after the death of a pope, earned 12 nominations while surreal narco-thriller musical Emilia Perez followed close behind with 11.

Both will compete for the coveted best film award at next month's ceremony, alongside Cannes favourite Anora, Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown and epic immigrant drama The Brutalist, which notched up nine nominations.

Hit musical Wicked, which last week topped the nominations for the influential Screen Actors Guild Awards, and Dune: Part Two were the other leading BAFTA contenders, with seven nods each.

Unexpected hit Kneecap, a docu-fiction about three Belfast upstarts who rap in the Irish language, racked up six nominations, including for original screenplay, outstanding British film and casting.

It has been longlisted for two Oscars, with the announcement of the final Academy Awards nominations delayed for a second time to January 23 due to the devastating wildfires gripping Los Angeles.

This year's awards season is seen as highly unpredictable, with an international crop of movies all considered plausible contenders for success on Hollywood's biggest night on March 2.

The BAFTAs, the highlight of the annual British film calendar, will this year be held two weeks earlier, on February 16, at London's Royal Festival Hall and hosted by Scottish actor David Tennant.

Array of contenders

"I'm really excited that we don't just have what's typically considered an award film... we got horror, we got sci-fi, we got musicals!" BAFTA film committee chair Anna Higgs told reporters.

"It's a more open award race this year and that is really exciting."

French director Jacques Audiard's Mexico-set Emilia Perez and The Brutalist will be strong contenders after both were the big winners at the Golden Globes earlier this month.

The director award pits Audiard against Edward Berger (Conclave), Sean Baker (Anora), Brady Corbet (The Brutalist) Denis Villeneuve (Dune: Part Two) and Coralie Fargeat (The Substance).

German-born Berger claimed a BAFTA two years ago with his adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front, while France's Fargeat is the only woman nominated in the directing category.

Her ultra-gory horror film about the pressures women face to maintain bodily perfection as they age, starring Demi Moore, won best screenplay at Cannes.

Moore scooped a Golden Globe for her portrayal in the film, and will now hope to add a BAFTA to her awards collection.

She will compete with Karla Sofia Gascon, the star of Emilia Perez, who is transgender, Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths), Mikey Madison (Anora) and Saoirse Ronan (The Outrun) for leading actress recognition.

The leading actor award will see Adrien Brody (The Brutalist), Ralph Fiennes (Conclave), Timothee Chalamet (A Complete Unknown), Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Hugh Grant (Heretic) and Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice) all compete.

Fiennes, a previous Oscar nominee who won a best supporting actor BAFTA in 1994 for Schindler's List, stars as a cardinal overseeing the election of a new pope in the acclaimed hit Conclave.

The supporting actress nominations see US pop singer Ariana Grande nominated for Wicked, alongside Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldana (both Emilia Perez), Felicity Jones (The Brutalist), Jamie Lee Curtis (The Last Showgirl) and Isabella Rossellini (Conclave). — AFP