The British Academy has unveiled the latest annual changes and tweaks to its rules for the 2025 BAFTA Film Awards.
Among the additions is a new award for children’s and family films, an expansion of theatrical requirements for best film, and a new points system for the outstanding British film category.
Previously presented at the BAFTA Children’s Awards, the children’s and family film award covers “films of any genre with a specific inter-generational appeal to children, young people and adults.”
A new points-based system for the outstanding British film category has been introduced to remove ambiguity within the eligibility process. The points system will encompass criteria such as nationality of the candidates for nomination and key department heads and cast.
BAFTA has also created a higher release requirement for films qualifying for best film, which must be theatrically exhibited publicly for the first time to a paying audience on at least 50 commercial screens in the U.K. for at least seven days — the equivalent of at least 350 screenings. Previously, BAFTA mandated 10 screenings per day for seven days to be eligible.
The director chapter will determine the longlist and nominations in its entirety from 2025, so both the longlist jury and nominating jury are set to be removed. The longlist will be set at 10; however, it could increase to 11 if a director who identifies as nonbinary/gender diverse and/or any mixed-gender directing teams rank within the voting results range of the top 10 women/men directors.
The performance categories (leading actress, leading actor, supporting actress, supporting actor) will get a voting update. From 2025, the longlists will continue to be determined by the acting chapter and longlisting jury. All 24 nominations, six per category, will now be determined by BAFTA’s acting chapter. Previously, three out of six nominees were determined by nominating juries. Winners will still be decided by an all-film member vote.
The definition for the documentary category has been refined. “An eligible feature Documentary can be defined as a predominantly non-fiction film intended for theatrical release,” BAFTA said. “Documentary footage is classed as photographed in actual occurrence, but may also include animation, archive footage, stills, stock footage, stop-motion, re-enactment and/or other techniques. It should deal creatively with artistic, cultural, economic, historical, political, social, scientific and/or other themes. Dramatized factual subjects will not qualify.”
All films must be made available with descriptive subtitles within 10 days of the regular film being made available on BAFTA View, which BAFTA encourages its voters to use to watch as many films as possible. To ensure a level playing field and fair consideration for all titles, regardless of marketing budget, members will be allocated a randomly selected sample of 15 films before participating in Round One voting.
See the full rulebook for 2025’s EE BAFTA Film Awards here. The ceremony takes place Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025.
Last year, BAFTA unveiled that entries for the outstanding British film and outstanding debut categories will be required to provide information regarding the bullying and harassment policies put in place during their production.
It also made it mandatory for films submitted for the outstanding British film category to have had a sustainability policy in place as part of the production.
This February, Oppenheimer won seven BAFTA awards, while Poor Things earned five.