BAFTA longlists: Netflix’s record win for ‘All Quiet On The Western Front’ is another triumph for international films, but things are quieter for Amazon and Apple

The 2023 BAFTA Film Awards longlists were revealed this morning and an unexpected lead appeared in Netflix’s war epic No news from the western front.

The German-language film led the field, appearing in 15 categories. The film was longlisted in all nine technical categories and received an impressive array of appearances on the Best Picture, Best Director and Adapted Screenplay lists, in addition to being a film not in English.

Directed by German filmmaker Edward Berger, the film is a reinterpretation of the classic 1929 novel by Erich Maria Remarque. The film tells the story of a young German soldier, played by Felix Kammerer, on the Western Front of the First World War who learns how the initial euphoria of war in the fight for his life turns into despair and fear. The picture debuted at TIFF. Daniel Brühl, Sebastian Hülk, Albrecht Schuch and Anton von Lucke will be there.

Netflix All quiet The show is the highest-grossing non-English language film during BAFTA’s longlist voting phase, which first began in 2021. The highest grossing non-English language film on these longlists so far has been that of Lee Isaac Chung Minariwhich appeared on eight lists.

While Bong Joon-ho parasite remains the only non-English language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. International films have gained prominence during awards season in recent years. Alfonso Cuarón won Best Film and Best Director at the 2019 BAFTAs for his semi-autobiographical epic Romeand last year Ryûsuke Hamaguchi won three BAFTA nominations, including Best Director drive my car. The film won the award for Best Non-English Language Film. International films are no longer outliers in the prize race. Instead, they play a key role in each studio’s overall campaign.

Netflix also scored an impressive win on the longlist of outstanding British films, with Lady Chatterley’s Lovers, The Wonder, The Swimmers and Matilda The Musical by Roald Dahl all done with (TriStar Pictures / Sony Pictures UK Mathilde in Great Britain). The Streamer is also prominent in adapted script (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, All Quiet on the Western Front).

Notable is the latest Netflix-led work, the personal epic of Alejandro González Iñárritu bardoonly on the Film Not In English Language list, a small return for three-time BAFTA winner Iñárritu.

On those longlists, Netflix is ​​missing a leading English-language heavyweight in the form of previous award winners such as Jane Campion’s power of the dog or that of Martin Scorsese The Irishman. The streamer may have to wait another year for the prestigious Oscar for best picture, unless No news from the western front should come as a big shock.

Elsewhere, rival streamers were less prominent compared to previous years, with both Apple and Amazon missing from the longlists for Best Picture, Best British Film and Best Director. At this point, Apple last year The Tragedy of Macbeth and KODA in the mix that makes the list of the best films. The year before, Amazon worked with a strong slate, among other things The Mauritanian, One night in Miami…and sound of metal.

This year, Amazon is taking on the well-received historical drama from Santiago Mitre Argentina, 1985. The film follows the David and Goliath story of real lawyers Julio Strassera and Luis Moreno Ocampo who prosecuted members of Argentina’s bloody military dictatorship. The film was screened out of competition in Venice. Apple is on the long list of documentation Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues, directed by Sacha Jenkins. The doctor who debuted at TIFF and follows the life and legacy of Louis Armstrong, the founder of American jazz.

Click here for more BAFTA longlist analysis.