Plans for two-night Bafta Film Awards 2021 announced: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Hugh Grant, Tom Hiddleston among presenters

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced new details for this year’s EE British Academy Film Awards Weekend taking place across 10 and 11 April at the Royal Albert Hall.

The awards show, which is being split over two years for the first time ever due to the pandemic, will feature all-star awards presenters, musical performances and special appearances across both nights by BAFTA President, HRH The Duke of Cambridge.

Presenters who will be appearing in person at the Royal Albert Hall include Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Phoebe Dynevor, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cynthia Erivo, Hugh Grant, Richard E. Grant, Tom Hiddleston, Felicity Jones, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, James McAvoy, David Oyelowo, and Pedro Pascal.

Read more: Full list of nominations for the 2021 BAFTAs

They will be joined by additional presenters beamed in from a studio in Los Angeles including Rose Byrne, Andra Day, Anna Kendrick and Renée Zellweger.

All the nominees will be appearing virtually via video link, with no red carpet event taking place this year.

Here's everything you need to know:

EE BAFTA Film Awards Opening Night

When: Saturday 10 April from 8pm

Where: On BBC Two and BBC Two HD

Host: Clara Amfo

Panel of guests: Included Rhianna Dhillon and Joanna Scanlan

Awards presented: Casting, Costume, Make Up & Hair, Production Design, Sound, Special Visual Effects, British Short Film and British Short Animation. Noel Clarke will also be recognised with the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award.

Read more: Biggest Bafta 2021 snubs and surprises

Musical performance: Supporting Actor nominee Leslie Odom Jr. will be singing Speak Now from the film One Night in Miami.

Virtual conversation: Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge, speaks with three-time BAFTA award-winning costume designer Jenny Beavan and Make Up & Hair designer Sharon Martin on filming in lockdown and the craft of filmmaking.

Behind the scenes: The broadcast will feature and in-depth look at the filmmaking process using behind the scenes footage from the nominated films to highlight the craft categories.

When: Sunday 11 April from 7pm

Where: On BBC One and BBC One HD

Hosts: Edith Bowman and Dermot O’Leary

Awards presented: 17 awards will be announced (including Best Film, Best Actor, Actress etc), including the public-voted EE Rising Star Award, with each nominee being celebrated individually during the show. BAFTA will also honour Ang Lee with the Fellowship.

Awards presenters: Asim Chaudhry, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Sophie Cookson, Phoebe Dynevor, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cynthia Erivo, Hugh Grant, Richard E. Grant, Tom Hiddleston, Felicity Jones, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, James McAvoy, David Oyelowo, Pedro Pascal and Jonathan Pryce.

Virtual presenters from LA: Includes Rose Byrne, Andra Day, Anna Kendrick and Renée Zellweger.

Musical performance: Brit Award winner Celeste performs Hear My Voice from Best Film nominee The Trial of the Chicago 7 as well as a duet of A Change is Gonna Come, featured in the film One Night in Miami…, to be performed by Leslie Odom Jr. from Los Angeles and Corinne Bailey Rae in London.

Prince William: HRH The Duke of Cambridge will make a second appearance on Sunday, delivering a speech via video which will celebrate the resilience of the film industry over the last year.

AR musical performance: Liam Payne will perform the world-first EE BAFTA AR music performance, played out live and in real-time at 18.45 BST through mobile handsets, wherever people are in the UK. The experience will give fans a first-look at Liam Payne’s AR Avatar, which will be beamed using EE’s award-winning 5G network as a hologram onto the stage as part of Liam’s opening performance on BBC One at 19.00 BST.

Behind the scenes: Clara Amfo will return as the official EE presenter to interview the awards presenters at the Royal Albert Hall. Clara will also be connecting with Award recipients virtually as part of EE BAFTA’s ‘Winner Reactions’. All content will be available exclusively on EE’s Twitter throughout the evening https://twitter.com/EE.

The programme will also feature exclusive footage from highly anticipated upcoming films making their way to cinemas later this year.

Emma Baehr, Executive Director of Awards & Content at BAFTA, said: “We're delighted to bring a whole weekend of BAFTA programmes to the BBC this year, where we get to share our passion for the art and craft of filmmaking and celebrate the very best in film along with our exciting new hosts, special guest presenters and musical performances.”