Good day for the Irish as Kneecap and Saoirse Ronan among Bafta Awards nominees

Kneecap, The Outrun, Blitz, and Irish-produced The Apprentice have all been nominated for the 2025 EE Bafta Awards

Award-winning Irish-language film Kneecap have receive six nominations at this year's EE BAFTA Awards.

A great day for Irish film is being celebrated following the announcement of nominees for the 2025 British Academy of Film and Television Film Awards.

Award-winning Irish-language film Kneecap received six nominations at this year’s Bafta Awards, while The Outrun scored two nods, including Saoirse Ronan’s nomination for Leading Actress.

Irish-produced The Apprentice received three nods, including Sebastian Stan’s nomination for Best Actor and Jeremy Strong’s nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Kneecap - the comedy-drama film written and directed by Rich Peppiatt - was nominated in the Outstanding Debut, Original Screenplay, Best Casting, Film Not in The English Language, Best Editing, and Outstanding British Film categories.

Award-winning Irish-language film Kneecap received six nominations at this year’s Bafta Awards. Picture: Sony.

The film depicts the rise of the Belfast rap trio of the same name and stars the band members as themselves, with Josie Walker, Fionnuala Flaherty, Jessica Reynolds, Adam Best, Simone Kirby, and Michael Fassbender in supporting roles.

The film was also selected as the Irish entry for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards and recently received 10 nominations across a range of categories at the 2025 Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) Awards.

Irish-produced The Apprentice received three nods in total. The film was nominated in the Best Casting category, Sebastian Stan was nominated for Best Actor for his role in the film and Jeremy Strong was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

The Outrun directed by Nora Fingscheidt received two nods at the 2025 EE Bafta Awards. The film was nominated in the Outstanding British Film category and Irish actress Saoirse Ronan was nominated in the Best Actress category for her starring role in the film.

Saoirse Ronan was nominated in the Best Actress category of the Bafta Awards for her starring role in The Outrun.

Ronan's wartime drama Blitz, which was longlisted in seven categories, was nominated for Outstanding British Film, Best Costume Design, and Best Sound.

The Irish film Clodagh, directed by Portia A. Buckley and starring Bríd Ní Neachtain and Katelyn Rose Downey, was longlisted for Best British Short Film but failed to secure a nomination following round two of voting.

Meanwhile, Conclave, starring British actor Ralph Fiennes as a cardinal overseeing the election of a new pope, led the Bafta film awards nominations with 12 nods.

Emilia Pérez received 11 nominations, The Brutalist received nine nominations, Anora, Dune: Part Two and Wicked received seven nominations, A Complete Unknown received six nominations alongside Kneecap, and Nosferatu and The Substance received five nominations.

Emilia Pérez received 11 nominations for this year's Bafta Awards.

Gladiator II, Sing Sing, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and The Wild Robot all received three nominations alongside The Apprentice and Blitz.

Flow, Hard Truths, The Outrun, and A Real Pain received two nominations each, while All We Imagine As Light, Better Man, Bird, Black Box Diaries, Daughters, Heretic, Hoard, I’m Still Here (Ainda Estou Aqui), Inside Out 2, Kensuke’s Kingdom, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, The Last Showgirl, Lee, Love Lies Bleeding, Monkey Man, Nickel Boys, No Other Land, Santosh, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Sister Midnight, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story and Will & Harper each received one nomination.

British shorts Adiós, The Flowers Stand Silently Witnessing, Marion, Milk, Mog’s Christmas, Rock Paper Scissors, Stomach Bug and Wander To Wonder were also nominated.

This year’s nominees for the EE Rising Star Award, the only award voted for by the British public, include Marisa Abela, Jharrel Jerome, David Jonsson, Mikey Madison, and Nabhaan Rizwan.

The 2025 EE Bafta Awards nominations were announced by hosts Mia McKenna-Bruce and Will Sharpe live from Bafta’s home in London on Wednesday afternoon.

Before kicking off proceedings, the hosts paid tribute to those affected by the wildfires in LA and to those who are “tirelessly” working on the frontline.

The EE Bafta Film Awards ceremony will be held at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in central London and broadcast on Sunday, February 16.

Breakdown of the full list of nominees: 

Rising Star Award 

• Marisa Abela 
• Jharrel Jerome 
• David Jonsson 
• Mikey Madison 
• Nabhaan Rizwan

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer 

• Hoard 
• Kneecap 
• Monkey Man 
• Santosh 
• Sister Midnight

Original Screenplay

• Anora 
• The Brutalist 
• Kneecap 
• A Real Pain 
• The Substance

Adapted Screenplay 

• A Complete Unknown 
• Conclave 
• Emilia Pérez 
• Nickel Boys 
• Sing Sing

Film not in the English Language 

• All We Imagine as Light 
• Emilia Pérez 
• I’m Still Here (Ainda Estou Aqui) 
• Kneecap 
• The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Animated Film

• Flow 
• Inside Out 2 
• Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl 
• The Wild Robot

Children’s and Family Film 

• Flow 
• Kensuke’s Kingdom 
• Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl 
• The Wild Robot

Best Supporting Actor 

• Yura Borisov; Anora 
• Kieran Culkin; A Real Pain 
• Clarence Maclin; Sing Sing 
• Edward Norton; A Complete Unknown 
• Guy Pearce; The Brutalist 
• Jeremy Strong; The Apprentice

Best Supporting Actress 

• Selena Gomez; Emilia Pérez 
• Ariana Grande; Wicked 
• Felicity Jones; The Brutalist 
• Jamie Lee Curtis; The Last Showgirl 
• Isabella Rossellini; Conclave 
• Zoe Saldaña; Emilia Pérez

Best Actor 

• Adrien Brody; The Brutalist 
• Timothée Chalamet; A Complete Unknown 
• Colman Domingo; Sing Sing 
• Ralph Fiennes; Conclave 
• Hugh Grant; Heretic 
• Sebastian Stan; The Apprentice

Best Actress 

• Cynthia Erivo; Wicked 
• Karla Sofía Gascón; Emilia Pérez 
• Marianne Jean-Baptiste; Hard Truths 
• Mikey Madison; Anora 
• Demi Moore, The Substance 
• Saoirse Ronan; The Outrun

Best Director 

• Sean Baker; Anora 
• Brady Corbet; The Brutalist 
• Edward Berger; Conclave 
• Denis Villeneuve; Dune: Part Two 
• Jacques Audiard; Emilia Pérez 
• Coralie Fargeat; The Substance

Outstanding British Film 

• Bird 
• Blitz 
• Conclave 
• Gladiator II 
• Hard Truths 
• Kneecap 
• Lee 
• Love Lies Bleeding 
• The Outrun 
• Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

Best Film 

• Anora 
• The Brutalist 
• A Complete Unknown 
• Conclave 
• Emilia Pérez

Best Documentary 

• Black Box Diaries 
• Daughters 
• No Other Land 
• Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story 
• Will & Harper

Best Casting 

• Anora 
• The Apprentice 
• A Complete Unknown 
• Conclave 
• Kneecap

Best Cinematography 

• The Brutalist 
• Conclave 
• Dune: Part Two 
• Emilia Pérez 
• Nosferatu

Best Editing 

• Anora 
• Conclave Dune: Part Two 
• Emilia Pérez 
• Kneecap

Best Costume Design 

• Blitz 
• A Complete Unknown 
• Conclave 
• Nosferatu 
• Wicked

Best Make-up and Hair 

• Dune: Part Two 
• Emilia Pérez 
• Nosferatu 
• The Substance 
• Wicked

Best Original Score 

• The Brutalist 
• Conclave 
• Emilia Pérez 
• Nosferatu 
• The Wild Robot

Best Production Design 

• The Brutalist 
• Conclave 
• Dune: Part Two 
• Nosferatu 
• Wicked

Best Sound 

• Blitz 
• Dune: Part Two 
• Gladiator II 
• The Substance 
• Wicked

Best Special Visual Effects 

• Better Man 
• Dune: Part Two 
• Gladiator II 
• Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes 
• Wicked

Best British Short Animation 

• Adiós 
• Mog’s Christmas 
• Wander to Wonder

Best British Short Film 

• The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing 
• MarionMilk 
• Rock, Paper, Scissors 
• Stomach Bug