BAFTA announces date for 2022 film awards ceremony

Bafta announced the news on their Twitter handle by tweeting "The date is announced for the 2022 EE British Academy Film Awards. Join us on 13 March 2022, on @BBCOne where we will be celebrating the best in film!" 

The awards are the UK's highest film honours and traditionally act as a bellwether to the Oscars, which take place shortly after. According to Variety, next year's Academy Awards are set for March 27. In 2020, BAFTA undertook a wide-ranging review and introduced changes for the 2021 film awards as part of an ongoing process of levelling the playing field for all entered films. The review came in response to the lack of diversity in the 2020 film awards, which included a much-criticized roster of all-white acting nominations. 

Key aspects of the review that will have an ongoing effect on the film awards include membership expanding to target 1,000 new members from under-represented groups over the next several months. This process is being overseen by a future membership group of current BAFTA members from a variety of backgrounds. In addition, a new longlisting round of voting in all categories was introduced in order to achieve greater diversity in nominations, and it became compulsory for all voters, chapters and juries to watch all longlisted films before Round 2 voting. As per Variety, the full timeline and eligibility details for the 2022 film awards will be announced in due course.