Jewish directors Sarah Gavron and Aaron Sorkin led nominations for this year’s Bafta Film Awards 2021. 
 
Mr Sorkin’s Trial of the Chicago 7, a courtroom drama starring Borat actor Sacha Baron Cohen as Flower Power activist Abbie Hoffman, received three nominations, including for best film. 
 
The West Wing creator is himself in the running for best original screenplay. 
 
Ms Gavron’s Rocks, a UK drama set in east London, got seven nods, including for outstanding British film.
 
Speaking to the JC recently, the Brick Lane director said producing Rocks had brought together many different communities, showcasing “the strength of London at its best.”
 
Having immigrant parents or grandparents “gives you a different view on the world, a slight outsider perspective,” she said.
 
Her own Jewish grandmother fled Germany, arriving in the UK aged 17 as an unaccompanied minor and the experience robbed her of “her whole childhood”, she said.