The document discusses the criteria for what qualifies as a "British film" for the BAFTA awards. It explains that 12 Years a Slave, despite having a British director and lead actor, was not considered for best British film because its producers did not select the box indicating it was a British film. Meanwhile, films like Gravity and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom were considered British films even though they do not take place in Britain or have predominantly British casts, because they involved significant British creative involvement in areas like visual effects, crew roles, and production companies. The criteria for British films considers factors like the director, cast, crew, and location of filming and production, and the definitions have become more complex as the

1. Bafta Awards: When is a film a British
film?
By Ian Youngs Arts reporter, BBC News
Gravity, Philomena, Mandela, Rush, The Selfish Giant and Saving Mr Banks are on Bafta's British film
list
Continue reading the main story
After last month's Golden Globes ceremony, Prime Minister David Cameron congratulated
"the British film 12 Years a Slave" on its wins. So why is it not up for best British film at
Sunday's Baftas, while Gravity - with US actors and a Mexican director - is?
It was not only Mr Cameron who tried to claim 12 Years a Slave for the UK.
BBC One 10 O'Clock News presenter Huw Edwards also described the drama as a British
film when introducing a report about the Golden Globes.
It was, after all, directed and co-produced by Britain's Steve McQueen and features an
excoriating lead performance from London actor Chiwetel Ejiofor.
BAFTAS - OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM NOMINEES
 Gravity - Space odyssey starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. Filmed by
Alfonso Cuaron in Britain
 Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom- Londoner Idris Elba plays Nelson Mandela,
directed by Brit Justin Chadwick
 Philomena - Dame Judi Dench and Steve Coogan search for an adopted child

2.  Rush - Formula One thrills directed by Hollywood's Ron Howard, but made in Britain
 Saving Mr Banks - Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks star in Disney's Mary Poppins
spin-off
 The Selfish Giant - Hard-hitting, low-budget Bradford drama from director Clio
Barnard
But when the Bafta ceremony takes place, the award for outstanding British film will be
contested by Gravity, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Philomena, Rush, Saving Mr Banks
and The Selfish Giant.
Nik Powell, chair of Bafta's film committee, explains: "12 Years a Slave was not considered
by the committee because it didn't list itself as a British film."
When a film is submitted to Bafta for consideration, its producers can tick a box to say it is
British, Mr Powell says. The producers of 12 Years a Slave did not tick that box.
After all, despite the involvement of McQueen and Ejiofor, an American book was adapted
by an American writer, filmed in the US with a largely non-British cast and crew and
produced by US production companies.
The Bafta rules say the British film category rewards "outstanding and original British film-
making which shows exceptional creativity and innovation".
So what about Gravity? Although it stars Hollywood A-listers Sandra Bullock and George
Clooney and is not set in Britain (or any country for that matter), it was filmed in the UK and
its groundbreaking visual effects were made in Britain.
"We're proud that films like Gravity are British and we're proud to have them made here by
British people," Mr Powell says.
"The prime objective is to show the huge range of British films, and to show the audience
that some films they might not initially think of as British are actually incredibly British."
To be eligible for the category, Bafta rules say that, unless there are exceptional
circumstances, a film must "have significant British creative involvement" and be certified as
British by the British Film Institute (BFI).
MORE OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILMS
 A Field in England - Director Ben Wheatley's black-and-white Civil War trip

3.  Alan Partridge:Alpha Papa - The big screen debut of Steve Coogan's comic alter-
ego
 Filth (above) - James McAvoy plays a corrupt policeman in this adaptation of Irvine
Welsh's novel
 For Those In Peril - Atmospheric drama that won best film at the Bafta Scotland
Awards
 Le Week-End - Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan star, with a script by Hanif
Kureishi
 Starred Up - A gritty and gripping prison drama featuring rising star Jack O'Connell
The BFI gives a film official British status for the purposes of receiving tax relief if it passes a
"cultural test" or is a co-production between the UK and another approved country.
The cultural test contains 15 criteria, from having the dialogue in the English language and
being set in the UK to using British locations, director, cast, writer, composer and producer.
A film must score 16 points out of a possible 31 to pass. Gravity passes - if you count its
director Alfonso Cuaron as British because he lives in London. Which the BFI does.
Another contentious inclusion in the category is Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, which is a
UK-South African co-production, but which has not passed the BFI's cultural test.
Like 12 Years a Slave, it is a non-British story about non-British characters, adapted from a
foreign book (Nelson Mandela's autobiography), with a British director (Justin Chadwick) and
star (Idris Elba).
There was a stronger British presence among Mandela's crew and production companies,
though. "You have a British writer, British director of photography, British composer," Mr
Powell says. "So I think you can say it's pretty British."
He adds: "However you manage it, there will always be grey areas. Nationality of films in the
global village that we live in has become perhaps more difficult now than it was 10 years
ago."
Some observers have queried Bafta's criteria.
Radio Times film critic Andrew Collins bemoaned the inclusion of Gravity, Saving Mr Banks
and Mandela and lamented the absence of Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, Danny Boyle's
Trance and Ben Wheatley's A Field In England.
Screen International editor Wendy Mitchell suggested the category could be renamed best
independent British film "as a way of levelling the playing field so that The Selfish Giant
doesn't have to compete with a $100m studio epic".
A separate ceremony, the British Independent FilmAwards, has filled that niche in recent
years.
Its big winner this year? Metro Manila, a low-budget crime thriller written and directed by
Brighton-born Sean Ellis. Oh, and it was set and shot in the Philippines with dialogue in the
Tagalog language. Would that pass the cultural test?

4. Bafta has chosen to nominate Metro Manila for best foreign language film rather than
outstanding British film.
Few films are 100% British. Of those, even fewer are good enough to deserve a Bafta
nomination.
In the modern film industry, stories, stars and funding are not bound by borders and it is
harder than ever to pin down the definition of a British film.
May the best film win
BAFTAs: Why 12 Years a Slave isn't a 'British Film' and outer-space
Gravity with Hollywood stars IS
 14:55, 17 February 2014
 By Natalie Dickinson
With the BAFTAs just hours away we take a look at whatmakes a
film 'British'
WENN
12 Years a Slave isn't a British film... sorry!
Oops it looks like someone forgot to tick a box to make 12 Years a Slave British!
Or did they?

5. Prime Minister David Cameron has claimed it as our own, it's directed by British filmmaker
Steve McQueen and the leading role is played by none other than London actor Chiwetel
Ejiofor.
So why is the blockbuster not in the running for the coveted Best British Film at tonights
BAFTAs?
Nik Powell, chair of BAFTA's film committee explained: "12 Years a Slave was not considered by
the committee because it didn't list itself as a British film."
And so it comes back down to that box, which Mr Powell said the producers of 12 Years a Slave
did not tick.
So instead, in the running we have Hollywood blockbuster Gravity, African-set Mandela:
Long Walk to Freedom, Philomena, Rush, Walt Disney's Saving Mr.Banks and The Selfish
Giant all up for the top gong.
For those of you scratching your heads, lets try and clear this up.
Gravity IS a British film! Yes!
Although Gravity is set in outer-space (definitely not Britain!) and stars some of Hollywood's
finest actors it was actually filmed in the UK and its visual effects were made on our very own soil
(big tick).

6. "We're proud that films like Gravity are British and we're proud to have them made here by British
people," Mr Powell says.
"The prime objective is to show the huge range of British films, and to show the audience that
some films they might not initially think of as British are actually incredibly British."
To be a British Film, BAFTA says that unless there are 'exceptional' circumstances a film must
have "significant British creative involvement" and be certified by the British Film Institute (BFI).
So let's take a look at another nominee, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is another BRITISH film
Just like 12 Years a Slave, the film tells a non-British story about non-British characters and is
adapted from Nelson Mandela's autobiography (you guessed it, not at all British).
And, again just like 12 Years a Slave, it does have a British Director in Justin Chadwick and a
British star, Idris Elba.
However, Powell argues that there was a stronger presence among the crew and production
companies of British people.
He added: "You have a British writer, British director of photography, British composer. So I think
you can say it's pretty British."
Defending the criteria, he added: "However you manage it, there will always be grey areas.

7. "Nationality of films in the global village that we live in has become perhaps more difficult now
than it was 10 years ago."
So there you have it - Gravity is British and so is Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, but (probably
because of that box), 12 Years a Slave isn't!