Andrea Arnold’s dropout road movie American Honey has been nominated for Outstanding British Film at this year’s BAFTA Awards. With a lead performance from current i-D cover star, Sasha Lane, it tells the story of a teenage girl who flees her troubled home to fall in with a traveling sales crew in the American Midwest. Joining Barry Jenkins’s four times nominated Moonlight (Best Film, Original Screenplay, Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali, Supporting Actress for Naomie Harris) and Ken Loach’s five times nominated I, Daniel Blake (Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Director, Original Screenplay, and Supporting Actress for Hayley Squires), it completes a series of nominations for films that deal with themes of outsiderdom — be it the souls that slip through the gaps of the British welfare system or the black gay experience of impoverished Miami.
Although not traditionally considered a barometer for awards season, the BAFTAs are increasingly being seen as a bellwether for Oscar success — good news for outsiders and liberal movie people everywhere.
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Text Matthew Whitehouse