BAFTA chief executive Jane Millichip on why the royals are still a ‘positive’ influence and ‘moving on’ to the Noel Clarke chapter.

The royal family remains a positive ambassador for the British Film and Television Academy despite recent scandals and reports of internal strife, BAFTA chief executive Jane Millichip told Deadline as she prepared for the charity’s 2023 film awards.

Sunday’s awards ceremony marks the first time the former Sky Studios chief executive has taken up his role as chief executive of BAFTA, having been appointed to the role last summer.

This year’s ceremony also sees the film awards move from the Royal Albert Hall to a new home at the Royal Festival Hall in London’s Southbank Centre, along with the introduction of a revised programming schedule that includes live segments for the first time in BAFTA history contains.

But back to tradition: Prince William, BAFTA president and Kate Middleton will attend the ceremony after skipping the ceremony for two consecutive years.

Prince William has been president of BAFTA since 2010, but this year’s ceremony marks his debut at the event as the Prince of Wales, the title he inherited from his father, King Charles III, after he was crowned prince following the Queen’s death Elizabeth II .ascended the throne in September.

The film awards will also be one of William and Kate’s first major public appearances since the release of Prince Harry’s tell-all book Reservations. The mega-selling memoir was the latest in a series of public interventions by the Duke of Sussex that included allegations of racism and exposed further conflicts within the institution.

“His Royal Highness has been an incredible supporter of BAFTA since he was president and patron,” Millichip said of William. “We have grants under our belt and he is showing genuine interest in our upgrading and development programmes.”

Millichip went on to talk about what she described as BAFTA’s long-standing association with the royals, referring to Queen Elizabeth II’s decision to withdraw royalties from Richard Cawston’s stunning family documentary from the Society of Film and Television Arts (‘ a precursor to BAFTA) in the early 1970s. The donation helped move the organization to its current headquarters at 195 Piccadilly, London.

When asked if the royal family was still fit for the awards ceremony, Millichip concluded: “I think the royal family has had an incredibly positive influence on BAFTA over the years.”

awards

The nominations for this year’s film awards are led by Netflix’s German-language World War I drama No news from the western front, with 14 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director and Adapted Screenplay. All Quiet’s return matches Ang Lee’s previous record Crouching tiger hidden dragon for the most nominations for a non-English language film in BAFTA history. All quiet has also since received the most BAFTA nominations for a single film The king’s speech in 2011 with also 14.

Martin McDonagh’s latest tragic comedy, The Banshees by InisherinAnd Everything, everywhere, all at once by A24, followed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert with ten nominations each.

British costume designer Sandy Powell has been honored this year with BAFTA’s Fellowship Award, the arts organisation’s highest honour.

Powell’s scholarship marks the first time the BAFTA Film Awards have presented one of its non-competitive awards since the controversy over the panel’s decision to give actor Noel Clarke the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award in 2021.

At the time, the charity faced allegations of sexual misconduct Bulletproof Star, first reported by The Guardian newspaper. Clarke strongly denies wrongdoing. BAFTA said it tried to verify the allegations but was unsuccessful. The organization eventually concluded that it would be “inappropriate” to discontinue the award.

Clarke’s BAFTA honors and membership were later suspended. The actor filed a defamation case against BAFTA and the Guardian Media Group at the High Court in London in 2022. BAFTA has since been dismissed from the case and London’s Metropolitan Police closed an investigation into the actor last year due to a lack of evidence.

“We’ve moved on,” Millichip said when asked if BAFTA should conduct separate investigations following the Clarke saga.

Millichip would not rely on isolated cases, but added that the arts charity was “very committed” to developing new industry guidelines on bullying, harassment and best practice in the workplace.

“This is an area we continue to work on and encourage all companies and manufacturers to adopt these guidelines,” she said.

As previously announced, Mercury Prize-winning rapper Little Simz will perform at the film awards. Dame Helen Mirren leads a tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II and the telecast concludes with the live unveiling of four categories: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Film and the EE Rising Star Award presented by Lashana Lynch.

In previous years, the event was pre-recorded and broadcast with a time delay. The ceremony will take place from 19:00 to 21:00 on Sunday night, with a switch to live broadcast around 20:30 thanks to what Millichip described as military planning by the production team.

“The entertainment value of TV coverage is something we’ve put a lot of thought into and we hope viewers will enjoy it,” said Millichip.