The Lunchbox starring Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui directed by Ritesh Batra is making rounds of internet and news for nomination at BAFTA Award 2015 under Non-English film category. Being the lone film to make to BAFTA has raised the hope of Indian Film fraternity. At BAFTA 2015 , The Lunchbox would compete with Polish-Danish Drama film “Ida”, Russian drama “Levithan”, Brazillian-British Adventure drama thriller film “Trash”and Belgian drama “Two Days One Night”. BAFTA would be hosted by Stephan Dry is expected to be a grandiose affair.
Achievements and Controversies of The Lunchbox :
Mentioning few accomplishments of the movie, the film was screened on 19th May 2013 as a part of International Critics week at 2013 Cannes Film festival and received standing ovation. The first draft of the screenplay was a part of Rotterdam International Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival.
However, The lunchbox sparked controversy when it was sidelined in the race for 86th Academy Awards amidst huge popularity. Finally the Gujarati film “The Good Road” was chosen to make official entry at OSCAR in Best Foreign film category.
About BAFTA
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is an independent charity that supports, develops and promotes the art forms of the moving image – film, television and games. In addition to its annual awards ceremonies, BAFTA has an international, year-round programme of learning events and initiatives offering access to talent through workshops, masterclasses, scholarships, lectures and mentoring schemes in the UK and the USA.
The BAFTA award
BAFTA’s annual film awards ceremony is known as the British Academy Film Awards, or “the BAFTAs”, and reward the best work of any nationality seen on British cinema screens during the preceding year. Since 2008 the ceremony has been held at the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden, having previously been held in the Odeon cinema on Leicester Square since 2000. The ceremony previously was performed during April or May of each year, but from 2002 since it has been held in February to precede the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ (AMPAS) Academy Awards, or Oscars.