What will win Best Film at BAFTA 2017?

Stephen Fry is once again hosting the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards this year. They take place on 12th February at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

As usual there is lots of speculation as to who will win and this year it seems harder than ever to decide.

There are many different categories, but I am just going to be taking a look at Best Film. Who could win of out these movies?

• Arrival
• I, Daniel Blake
• La La Land
• Manchester by the Sea
• Moonlight

To be honest, all of them are equally deserving of the win. That isn’t always the case, but 2016 saw some incredible films.

At the Golden Globes we saw Moonlight take Best Motion Picture – Drama, while La La Land won Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. That doesn’t really help as both films are great in different ways. However, La La Land could possibly pick up the BAFTA as it is a bit different from the others, but will people vote for a musical? The same applies for Arrival – will the voters go for a sci-fi film, even though it is a superb story with an amazing central performance from Amy Adams? I have a feeling they won’t.

Could the fact that I, Daniel Blake is the only British film in the Best Film category mean that the voting members of BAFTA will lean in favour of that? Some members may also vote for the Ken Loach directed film for the powerful political message it puts forward.

However I, Daniel Blake is also nominated in the Best British Film category so it also has a chance to win there, but could that harm its chances to win Best Film? Could the voters think it will win the other category and cost it some votes in both? A tricky one decision to be sure.

Then there is Manchester by the Sea. Again it has been getting amazing reviews and Casey Affleck won Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama at the Golden Globes.

What I always find problematic with many of the awards is that a lot depends on how much money the studios throw at them to promote the film for the various Awards. They have been many times in the past when better films have lost out to lesser films because they were either not considered award winning films by the studio or they did not have the budget to get them included. The Founder starring Michael Keaton seems to be one such film that will miss out as The Weinstein Company just didn’t have the budget to promote it for award season.  You have to get your film noticed – good reviews and box office helps – but during Award season you have to get the films out to the people who vote on them, hence the need for money to promote them. I am not sure what other way that could be done to get all films considered.

It is too close for me to call, but then if we look at the William Hill BAFTA odds for Best Film it seems that La La Land is the clear favourite as it currently has odds of 1/5 (that is the correct way round). Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone’s love story seems highly likely to take the top spot, but as we all know, surprises often happen at these kind of things. Personally I would love Arrival to take the BAFTA, but I think it being a sci-fi film means it will miss out.

Which film would you like to see win the Best Film BAFTA? You can vote below.