Two Columbia Films Nominated for 2022 BAFTA Awards

By
Angeline Dimambro
February 14, 2022

Two films from Columbia alumni have been nominated for 2022 BAFTA Awards. They are: The Lost Daughter, written and directed by alumna Maggie Gyllenhaal '99 (CC), and The House of Gucci, co-written by alumnus Roberto Bentivegna ’10.

Gyllenhaal is nominated in the category of Adapted Screenplay for her script for The Lost Daughter. Actress Jessie Buckley is also nominated in the category of Best Supporting Actress. The film is adapted from the Elena Ferrante novel of the same name and follows a college professor who confronts memories of her early motherhood while on vacation in Italy. The psychological drama is Gyllenhaal’s directing debut. The film also received two Academy Award nominations, four nominations at the 2022 Independent Spirit Awards, two Golden Globe nominations, as well as three nominations at this year’s Gotham Awards in New York. The Lost Daughter premiered at the Venice International Film Festival this year, where it won Best Screenplay.

Maggie Gyllenhaal is an American actress and filmmaker. Gyllenhaal has appeared in numerous Hollywood films, including Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed The Dark Knight. In 2009, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in the Scott Cooper drama Crazy Heart. In 2014, she won a Golden Globe for her titular performance in the BBC political-thriller series The Honourable Woman

House of Gucci is nominated in the categories of Outstanding British Film, Leading Actress (Lady Gaga), and Make Up & Hair. Bentivegna co-wrote the screenplay for the film, which was based on Sara Gay Forden’s book The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed (Custom House, 2001). Directed by Academy Award nominee Ridley Scott (AlienGladiatorThelma and Louise), the film follows Patrizia Reggiani, an outsider from humble beginnings. When she marries into the Gucci family, her unbridled ambition begins to unravel their legacy and triggers a reckless spiral of betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately, murder. 

Bentivegna, who is fluent in Italian himself and comes from Italian parents, discussed his experience writing the script in an interview with Observer magazine: “I have a personal connection to the story because I grew up in Milan and my mother is a fashion designer. I used to play two doors down from where Maurizio was murdered. I knew the story very well. It was one of those kind of perfect marriages of ‘Here’s a job’ but also it never felt like a job.”

Roberto Bentivegna was born in London of Italian parents. He grew up in Milan and London, attending Emerson College in Boston before pursuing an MFA at Columbia University. His short films have screened at international film festivals including Locarno, Atlanta, and Miami, and are distributed by Film Movement and Shorts International. Whilst at Columbia University, Bentivegna was awarded the Carla Kuhn fellowship, the Hollywood Foreign Press Award, the Alfred P. Sloan Screenwriting award, and the honor of Faculty Selects for his screenplay A Day in March. He was also a finalist in the Academy's Nicholl Fellowship. Bentivegna has been awarded residencies at Yaddo, the Nantucket Screenwriters Colony, and was a fellow in the Italian Government's Apulia Film Program. His screenplays include Shella for acclaimed photographer Albert Watson; The Eel, which was featured on the 2012 Black List and is currently in development with talent Sam Rockwell and Maria Bello attached to star, Spirit House for Film Nation; an adaptation of A.M. Homes' May We Be Forgiven for director Lynne Ramsay and Artificial Eye; as well as The Disappearance of a Quiet Man for producers Chris Coen and Alan Moloney. He will also adapt Jo Nesbo’s novella The Jealousy Man into a feature for Amazon Studios.

The 2022 BAFTA Awards will take place on Sunday, March 13, 2022 and be broadcast on the BBC in the UK and around the world.