Olympics film falls at first Bafta hurdle

[Fiona]

STEVEN Spielberg's latest epic, Munich, has been picking up five-star reviews all over the world but it has been controversially knocked out in the preliminary round of voting for the Bafta awards.

Spielberg's heartfelt film about the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre did not even make the shortlist for the best film award because members of Bafta simply never got the chance to see it.

Munich does not open in the UK until the end of the month, but distributors UIP intended to post DVDs to Bafta voters to make sure everyone saw it.

By Christmas they were saying voters would get the film by January 3, although first-round voting closed the following day. A message to voters was accompanied by a special plea: "Do not vote without seeing this extraordinary film."

In a final twist worthy of a Hollywood conspiracy drama, it is alleged the disks were held up at Customs and they finally reached voters yesterday, which was too late.

Celia Stevenson, Scottish Screen's head of inward investment and communications and a Bafta member, said: "I have heard so much about it and I was desperate to see it, so I am really, really disappointed."

Many contenders have still to open in the UK and DVDs have become virtually a prerequisite for a successful campaign in the Baftas, which have undergone a major overhaul and are now treated very seriously by the industry. King Kong is the only film on the best film long list that was not sent to voters on DVD.

Critics have bracketed Munich with Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan as among Spielberg's strongest dramas. It portrays the kidnapping and murder of 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team and the subsequent tracking down and summary execution of the terrorists. It is a powerful condemnation of the cycle of violence, with Eric Bana and the new 007 Daniel Craig as members of the hit squads.

Spielberg himself made it on to the long list for best director, which shows it must have been close. There is no doubt Munich would have been in the running for best film if UIP had got the DVDs out on time.

Best director is one of just two categories in which the film made it through the first round, whereas Memoirs of a Geisha, which has had mixed reviews, has garnered no fewer than 15 preliminary "nominations".

Bafta has about 5,000 film voting members from all sections of the industry. In the first round they were entitled to cast up to 12 votes in each category.

In the second round they can cast up to five votes to produce the nominations that go forward to the final round. The awards themselves are presented on February 19.

scotsman.com