Awards Whispers: our anonymous panel of voters give their early verdict on this season’s contenders

Bafta-nominated writer/director 1, female, Bafta & Ampas voter

Which films have captured your attention so far?
I enjoyed Left-Handed Girl until the ending where it slipped into melodrama. The young child’s performance is astonishing and there is a priceless moment involving a meerkat. 

I watched Marty Supreme in a packed cinema and haven’t shared so many collective laughs in a long time. It is boldly lit by Darius Khondji and Timothée Chalamet does a great job of being wily, charming and speaking incredibly fast.

Among documentaries, The Librarians was a chilling reminder of how wrong things are going in the US. I knew about the banning of books, but I was shocked by the vitriol librarians faced. Those librarians are heroes.

The Iranian film It Was Just An Accident was perhaps the most profound viewing experience for me so far. It brilliantly finds a way to illustrate the machinations and repercussions of life under a horrific regime. 

Which performances have captured your attention so far?
I enjoyed Hamnet – Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal are among my favourites. I didn’t shed any tears, although everyone around me did.

Has anything not lived up to the buzz so far?
I was less excited than the critics by One Battle After Another. It kept me engaged but I was confused by its tone, certainly for the first half. I did, however, admire the filmmaking and performances, and like everyone I thought the car chase across the hills was a visual highlight.

Acquisitions & commissioning executive, male, Bafta voter

Which films have captured your attention so far?
I loved I Swear and The Ballad Of Wallis Island – British films that feel authentic yet have strong commercial appeal. I Swear tackles a challenging subject with honesty and sensitivity, while also delivering laughs and real emotion. The Ballad Of Wallis Island stands out for its clever concept and the way the small cast brings it brilliantly to life.

Which performances have captured your attention so far?
I Swear has a real best-of-British cast but Robert Aramayo is exceptional. It’s a technically brilliant but also hilarious and emotional performance. He is not even Scottish and manages to nail the accent. 

In One Battle After Another, Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn are excellent but the standouts in supporting are Teyana Taylor and Benicio Del Toro. Taylor explodes from the screen in the small section she is in, and Del Toro is mesmerising as he calmly navigates the chaos.

Producer 1, female, Bafta voter

Which films have captured your attention so far?
Urchin, Pillion, My Father’s Shadow… It has been an incredible year for British debuts and these are very different films that have caught my attention in very different ways. Such clear voices and imaginative, assured story­telling.

Another astonishingly good debut and one that isn’t going to get the awards attention it deserves is Kristen Stewart’s The Chronology Of Water. She is an exciting, unique new voice to emerge this year.

Sound Of Falling is a second film, but I was so delighted to discover it – it’s a beautifully authored, deeply humane piece. We talk about untold stories but I think the filmmaker, Mascha Schilinski, found several in that film.

Which performances have captured your attention so far?
Imogen Poots in The Chronology Of Water is the standout performance of the year for me. The film has been understandably called a difficult watch, but she carries every frame of that story.

Robert Aramayo’s totally engrossing turn in I Swear is going to become something of a benchmark for character performances. I wasn’t aware of his work before Palestine 36, but I shall be following his career with great interest.

Has anything not lived up to the buzz so far?
After The Hunt, Eddington and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery disappointed me. I feel those directors can do better, and had the budget to do so.

Festival director, male, Bafta voter

Which films have captured your attention so far?
Sinners is right up there. Ryan Coogler is obviously a student of great directors like Spielberg, Landis and Coppola and, combined with his penchant for history and family, he finds creative ways to blend this into his brand of storytelling. He has created a masterpiece for the ages and there are standout acting performances across the board.

Which performances have captured your attention so far?
Timothée Chalamet gives a career-­defining performance in Marty Supreme. Great to see Gwyneth Paltrow’s presence on the big screen again, in the same film.

Has anything not lived up to the buzz so far?
The Smashing Machine.

Bafta-nominated writer/director 2, female, Bafta & Ampas voter

Which films have captured your attention so far?
The Voice Of Hind Rajab floored me. I was taken by its bold, direct, bare-bones storytelling. It’s stripped right down to its essence, and all the more powerful for it. The use of the real Hind’s voice is soul-shattering, but what elevates it is the way the film holds that voice – with care, clarity and political rigour. It’s urgent, necessary cinema.

Which performances have captured your attention so far?
Posy Sterling as Molly in Lollipop has stayed with me. Her performance is urgent and emotional. 

Also, the performances in The Voice Of Hind Rajab. It’s easy to be put off by heart-on-your-sleeve characters who overtly emote with constant intensity, but I thought the ensemble was phenomenal, especially given how often they were just acting to a voice and into headphones. That is high-wire acting.

Has anything not lived up to the buzz so far?
One Battle After Another doesn’t live up to the hype because it feels, frankly, like a first draft that somehow made it to screen. Plot points don’t make sense, the narrative is loose and key moments feel arbitrary rather than earned. 

For a film that positions itself as a takedown of white supremacy, its refusal to grant real agency or any meaningful interiority to its Black female characters, using them instead as instruments for a white protagonist’s journey, makes it feel not just underwritten but at odds with its own supposed message.

Communications executive 1, male, Bafta voter

Which films have captured your attention so far?
Hamnet. I loved the book and thought Chloé Zhao did a brilliant job of bringing it to life. I was a big fan of The Ballad Of Wallis Island and Sinners, too.

Which performances have captured your attention so far?
Jessie Buckley in Hamnet blew me away. I haven’t seen another performance this year that I found as powerful.

In spite of myself, I found Timothée Chalamet very good in Marty Supreme. He totally inhabits the role and is on screen for almost every scene.

Has anything not lived up to the buzz so far?
Despite being a big Paul Thomas Anderson fan, something about One Battle After Another left me cold. I thought the world-building at the beginning was great, but I wanted to spend more time with Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti’s characters and not spend as much time with Leo’s.

Producer 2, male, Bafta voter

Which films have captured your attention so far?
The most delightful surprise so far has been Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight. A bold adaptation by actor/director Embeth Davidtz — original, authentic, entertaining and using cinema to make us feel we were there.

I watched Song Sung Blue under a misapprehension. A blue-collar, true love story about a Neil Diamond impersonator, directed by Craig something… I expected I, Tonya levels of black comedy and was somewhat baffled by the sweet sincerity of Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson’s performances. Yes, it was a different Craig – Brewer not Gillespie.

Which performances have captured your attention so far?
Lexi Venter, the [young] star of Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight. Most surprising delight was Kenneth Branagh moderating the Bafta Q&A of Sinners. Not a performance we can vote for, but as a filmmaker interviewing filmmakers, he made us all want to vote for Michael B Jordan and Ryan Coogler.

Production & sales executive, female, Bafta voter

Which films have captured your attention so far?
One Battle After Another’s tone felt so singular, the pace was incredible even with the lengthy running time, and Johnny Greenwood’s score is so elegant. 

Sirât is such a visceral movie. The cinematography and sound design are superb. It’s a cross between a drama and a horror film. Heartbreaking with jump scares.

Sound Of Falling’s craft, ambition and approach to intergenerational trauma in a country with such a charged history is what made this one rise to the top of what I’ve seen this year so far.

Which performances have captured your attention so far?
Robert Aramayo’s performance in I Swear surprised me – I found it nuanced and moving. I loved the dynamic between Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgard in Pillion. Jennifer Lawrence knocked it out of the park in Die My Love. And Wagner Moura was brilliant in The Secret Agent.

Has anything not lived up to the buzz so far?
Train Dreams is a decent, well-made film but I’m not sure I understood why the critics were raving about it. The Testament Of Ann Lee has some real evangelists and I admired the filmmaking, but I felt there was a missed opportunity with telling that story.

Producer 3, male, Bafta voter

Which films have captured your attention so far?
Sinners but I wonder how it will fare – it’s clear that it’s much harder for films about Black lives by Black directors to get votes. I had a lot of fun watching One Battle After Another, but I did think it was too much of a cartoon with stereotypes to really work.

I liked Sentimental Value and It Was Just An Accident. The international category is going to be strong with The Secret Agent, The Voice Of Hind Rajab and Palestine 36 all in with a shout. I hope only one film with a Palestinian storyline gets in so that vote is not split.  

Which performances have captured your attention so far?
I think Michael B Jordan should be nominated twice for his performances in Sinners. Jack O’Connell is also great as the vampire Irish folk musician.

Leo was great in One Battle After Another channelling [The Big Lebowski’s] The Dude. I also like Wagner Maura’s performance in The Secret Agent, and Stellan Skarsgard’s in Sentimental Value. And I loved Cynthia Erivo in Wicked: For Good.

Has anything not lived up to the buzz so far?
I was sad about Frankenstein as I wanted more from it. After The Hunt was too on the nose. The Smashing Machine is a Rock in a hard place. Bugonia fell apart after a good start.

Communications executive 2, male, Bafta voter

Which films have captured your attention so far?
I thoroughly enjoyed Pillion – an absolute hoot and surprisingly moving. Any film that uses Tiffany’s ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’ to such brazen effect is all right by me.

I was hypnotised by the melancholic world Kelly Reichardt creates in The Master­mind. It’s the kind of film that risks being drowned out by louder attention-grabbers, but her direction has subtlety and elegance.

Similarly hypnotic, in an entirely different way, is If I Had Legs I’d Kick You which is compelling and stressful in equal measure. And Wicked: For Good reminded me of falling in love with the cinema in the first place – a big-screen blast.

Which performances have captured your attention so far?
I’m just going to say it: if Cynthia Erivo and/or Ariana Grande are nominated for Wicked: For Good, I’ll find it very hard to look past them.

Rose Byrne is electric in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. Josh O’Connor is superb in The Mastermind, and also the best thing in Wake Up Dead Man. Robert Pattinson adds another string to his bow in the enjoyably bonkers Mickey 17.

Has anything not lived up to the buzz so far?
Unlike last year, when I was completely bemused by the adoration of Anora, Emilia Pérez and The Brutalist, nothing has left me remotely deflated yet. But let’s see how I feel after the Christmas viewing binge.

• How steely defiance helped Annemarie Jacir keep ‘Palestine 36’ on track in the face of tragedy