Mank leads the way for this year’s Oscars – with the 2021 shortlist including two female directors for the first time ever and a diverse acting nominations list.

British stars including Daniel Kaluuya, Sacha Baron Cohen, Riz Ahmed, Carey Mulligan, Gary Oldman and Olivia Colman are among the stars in the running for prizes, while The Father, Judas And The Black Messiah, Mank, Minari, Nomadland, Promising Young Woman, Sound Of Metal and The Trial Of The Chicago 7 are shortlisted for best film.

The Oscars has significantly expanded its voting body over the past year, inviting more than 800 new members, after it faced criticism for a lack of diversity in its nominations for the 2020 ceremony – with Harriet actress Cynthia Erivo the only non-white acting nominee and no female directors.

It seems progress is being made. In the directing category, Chloe Zhao (Nomadland) and Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) are up against Lee Isaac Chung (Minari), David Fincher (Mank) and Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round). Only five women have ever been nominated in the category in the history of the Academy Awards, and only one has ever won.

Among the performers, it is the most diverse shortlist of nominees ever – and a sign of change from the all-white shortlists that led to the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag starting five years ago. Nine of the 20 acting nominees are from ethnic minority groups, including a posthumous leading actor nomination for the late Chadwick Boseman, for his role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

Netflix, which released the film, said Boseman’s co-star, Viola Davis, had made Oscars history after being nominated in the leading actress category – which will make this year’s ceremony her fourth time in the running. “She is now the most-nominated Black actress ever, and the only Black woman with two Best Actress nominations”, the streaming service said on one if its official Twitter accounts.

Fincher’s Mank – which sees 1930s Hollywood reevaluated through the eyes of social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J Mankiewicz as works to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane – received 10 nominations in total.

The Academy Awards have been delayed by the pandemic and are now scheduled to take place from different locations on 25 April.

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