BAFTA

BAFTA, organization that promotes and rewards outstanding achievement in the film, television, and interactive media industries (see Electronic Games). The Academy has a membership of approximately 4,000, made up of film and television professionals, and is a charity funded by members’ subscriptions and voluntary donations, with headquarters in Piccadilly, London, and regional offices in Wales, North-West England, Scotland, and the United States.

Founded in 1947, the British Film Academy, as it was then called, grew out of a loose association of some of Britain’s foremost film-makers, including Alexander Korda, David Lean, Michael Balcon, Frank Launder, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, and Carol Reed, who aimed to establish closer cooperation among creative workers in the industry. As the UK film and television sectors became increasingly interdependent the decision was taken in 1958 to merge the Academy with the Guild of Television Producers and Directors. The new body was known as the Society of Film and Television Arts until 1976, when it adopted its current name and moved to new premises in Piccadilly.

The Academy made its first awards for artistic merit in 1948 when The Best Years of Our Lives (1946; William Wyler) and Odd Man Out (1946; Carol Reed) were voted Best Film and Best British Film. A shortlist was selected by a panel of judges with Academy members voting by postal ballot. The Academy’s first public awards ceremony was held at the Odeon Leicester Square on May 29, 1949—Hamlet (1948; Laurence Olivier) was voted Best Film and The Fallen Idol (1948; Carol Reed) Best British Film. The Guild of Television Producers and Directors began presenting awards for excellence in British Television in 1954, and these continued when it merged with the Academy.

In 1976 the awards were renamed the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards (BAFTAs) and in 1998 the annual awards ceremony was divided into separate events for Film (March) and Television (now held in April). Since 2001, in a move to increase the event’s prestige by attracting more international stars, the Film Awards have been held in February, during the run-up to the Academy Awards. Additional ceremonies were added in 1996 for excellence in Children’s Television (November); in 1998 for Interactive Entertainment (Web sites and DVDs), and in 2004 for Computer Games (both held in February); and in 2000 for Television Craft (May). The telecommunications company Orange became the sponsor of the Film Awards in 1998, and in 1999 the Orange Audience Award was introduced for the most popular film of the year as voted for by the public.