Today’s Rising Stars

With the Golden Globes now officially gone, because of the current writer’s strike, and the shadow of its demise slowly leaning toward the Oscars, more international attention is being paid to the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards (BAFTA).

Each year BAFTA choses its list of notable young rising stars and this year’s hopefuls do look promising. Last year Eva Green one the honor and announced the names of this year’s BAFTA Rising Star nominees. Votes are cast publically, something akin to America’s Peoples Choice Awards.

The list of nominees this year are:

Shia LaBeouf for his role in “Transformers”, Ellen Page who stars in “Juno”, Sienna Miller in “Stardust”, Sam Riley for “Control” and Wei Tang for her performance in “Lust, Caution (Se, jie).” (Actors nominated for roles in SF or genre-related films in bold)

[Pictured from lt to rt: Shia LaBeouf, Ellen Page, Sienna Miller, Sam Riley, Wei Tang]

While it doesn’t seem likely BAFTA still has some concerns that, like the Golden Globes, their ceremony could become a target for the Writers Guild of America pickets.

“Neither BAFTA nor our broadcaster (in the U.S. — the BBC America Channel) is in dispute with the Writers Guild of America; whilst we hope, for the sake of the whole international industry, that the dispute is resolved, we look forward to rewarding and recognizing great filmmaking talent from around the world at our ceremony,” a spokesperson for BAFTA told the press.

The BAFTA awards take place on February 10 LIVE at the London Royal Opera House.