'Nomadland', 'Rocks' lead highly diverse BAFTA award nominations

U.S. recession drama "Nomadland" and coming-of-age story "Rocks" led the nominations for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards on Tuesday with seven nods each, with a clear push on diversity among the acting contenders following an outcry last year.

Family drama "The Father", Hollywood throwback "Mank", #MeToo revenge movie "Promising Young Woman" and Korean-language "Minari" followed with six nominations.

The best director category had four women nominees, including Chloe Zhao for "Nomadland".
More than half of the 24 nominees were actors of colour - a huge change to last year when BAFTA revealed an all-white acting contenders list, sparking an online outcry with the hashtag #BaftasSoWhite trending on social media.

This year's leading actor nominees include Riz Ahmed for his portrayal of a heavy metal drummer going deaf in "Sound of Metal" and the late Chadwick Boseman for his role in 1920s jazz drama "Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom".

Leading actress nominees include Bukky Bakray for "Rocks" and Frances McDormand for "Nomadland".

Last year's backlash led BAFTA to conduct a wide-ranging review resulting in expanded membership, a new longlist voting round, and an increase in all four acting categories and best director to six nominees from five.'

The outstanding British film category has also been expanded to 10 nominations. The BAFTAs, Britains top movie honours, will take place on April 11.