Baftas 2023: Best Actress nominee Cate Blanchett wears a blue ribbon to show support for displaced refugees
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Cate Blanchett, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Yusra Mardini are all set to wear a blue ribbon
The Baftas provide a global platform for the best and brightest of film and television, and allow for those attending to raise awareness and share their opinions.
Heading into the ceremony as a frontrunner for the Best Actress category, Cate Blanchett graced the red carpet with a blue ribbon attached to her shoulder, while Best Actor nominee and other favourite to win Colin Farrell, who is battling the likes of Brendan Fraser and Austin Butler for the trophy, arrived looking dapper in a suit and bow-tie completing the look with a blue ribbon pinned to his lapel.
While other stars of TV and film keep arriving at the Royal Festival Hall, others are set to join The Tar star in wearing the colourful ribbon to show their support for an ongoing cause.
The blue ribbons pay tribute to refugees who have been displaced from their homes due to ongoing wars or other events such as the Turkey-Syria earthquake, which has tragically killed tens of thousands only recently.
Cate Blanchett alongside Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Yusra Mardini are all goodwill ambassadors for the UNHCR (the UN refugee agency) who are also expected to wear the blue ribbon.
It comes as human themes of ‘displacement, separation and loss’ are at the forefront in many of the Bafta nominated films including The Swimmers (based on the story of UNHCR goodwill ambassador Yusra Mardini and her sister, Sara Mardini) and Marcel The Shell, to name but two.
A spokesperson for the UNHCR said: “The wearing of the blue #WithRefugees ribbon on the red carpet sends a powerful visual message that everyone has the right to seek safety, whoever, wherever, whenever."
At time of writing, Colin’s best actor competitor Daryl McCormack has adorned the blue ribbon in addition to Sophie Turner and Oscar-nominated Angela Bassett.