The movie awards season has been dominated by debates about why the film industry remains dominated by white men.
For the second year in a row, all of the acting nominees for the Oscars are white.
The Baftas were slightly more diverse, with two black actors recognised – John Boyega and Idris Elba. And pioneering black American actor Sidney Poitier – the first black Best-Actor Oscar winner, in 1963 – received the Bafta fellowship, a lifetime achievement award, during Sunday’s ceremony.
A group called Creatives of Colour Network organised a protest beside the red carpet on Sunday night against a lack of racial diversity in show business. Demonstrators rallied under the hashtag #baftablackout, and distributed leaflets declaring the awards “male, pale and stale”.
Like Hollywood’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the British Academy says it will work to make sure its pool of 6,500 voting members becomes a more diverse group, while the academy head said she supported the protesters’ aims.
"Our industry isn't diverse enough, so the pool of people to draw award winners from isn't diverse enough," chief executive Amanda Berry told the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Bafta chairwoman Anne Morrison acknowledged the issue during her opening speech to the ceremony, in which she said those in the industry “have to admit” there is a problem.
“Diversity is high on the agenda right now. At Bafta we welcome that debate,” said Morrison. “The pressure won’t die down until there is real change on and off screen.”
On the red carpet, Boyega, who won the Rising Star award, said he was glad the issue was being aired.
“I just think a larger conversation is being had and I think that’s a very, very positive thing,” he said.
British comedian and actor Sacha Baron Cohen made a reference to the debate as he stood on stage introducing the Best Actress prize.
“The nominations for best ... WHITE actress are,” Baron Cohen said, before host Stephen Fry interrupted him.
In an appearance that had the audience in stitches, comedian Rebel Wilson joked that the Oscars were “racist”.
“I’ve never been invited to the Oscars because, as we know, they are racists,” said Wilson, before commenting on Bafta’s efforts to increase its mix of voters. “That’s what we all like to see in life, isn’t it?” she added. “Diverse members.”
The Revenant's Mexican director, Alejandro González Iñárritu, said the problem ran "deeper" than simply the Oscars.
“It’s a bigger question, it’s a bigger challenge, which is a cultural thing,” he said.
