The main acting trophies went to Hollywood star Will Smith and British artist Joanna Scanlan
The main acting trophies went to Hollywood star Will Smith and British artist Joanna Scanlan
Science-fiction epic “Dune” won five awards and western “The Power of the Dog” was named best film as the British Academy Film Awards on Sunday held a live, black-tie ceremony following a pandemic-stricken event in 2021. returned with
Click here for full list of winners
New Zealand filmmaker Jane Campion was nominated for Best Director for “The Power of the Dog”, becoming only the third woman to win the award in the awards’ 75-year history.
Lead acting trophies went to Hollywood star Will Smith and British artist Joanna Scanlan, as an event that has served to address a historical lack of diversity, recognizing a wide range of talents – including ” Troy Kotsur for “CODA” also includes its first Deaf acting winner.
Last year’s awards ceremony was conducted largely online, with only the hosts and presenters in attendance. This year’s return to in-person celebration at London’s Royal Albert Hall came in the shadow of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.
British Film Academy President Krishnendu Mazumdar opened the show hosted by Australian actor-comedian Rebel Wilson with a message of support for Ukraine.
“We stand with those who are bravely fighting for their country and we share their hope of a return to peace,” he said.
Then came the glitz, in which 85-year-old diva Shirley Bassey and a live orchestra performed “Diamonds Are Forever” to mark the 60th anniversary of the James Bond films.
“Bond is turning 60, and his girlfriend is turning 25,” joked host Wilson, who reduced his usual bawdy material to the evening TV broadcast of the ceremony on the BBC.
Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune”, a space epic set on a desert planet, took home five trophies out of its 11 nominations: visual effects, production design, sound, Greg Fraser’s cinematography and Hans Zimmer’s score.
“The Power of the Dog,” set in 1920s Montana and starring Benedict Cumberbatch as a ranch owner, was nominated in eight categories and won two big awards: Best Picture and Best Director. Campion is only the third female winner in that category, but second in two years for ‘Nomadland’ after Chloe Zhao in 2021.
Cumberbatch lost to Smith, who was named Best Actor for his performance as the father of Serena and Venus Williams in “King Richard”.
Scanlan was a surprise best-actress winner, beating out contenders including Lady Gaga to win for “After Love”, Alim Khan’s first feature about a woman who makes a life-changing discovery after her husband’s death. Is.
“Some stories have amazing endings, don’t they?” A disbelieving Scanlan said.
Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical “Belfast”, a childhood story overshadowed by Northern Ireland’s violent “Trouble”, was named Best British Film.
Ariana DeBos was named Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s gorgeous musical “West Side Story.” The supporting actor award went to Kotsur for “CODA”, in which he plays the deaf father of a hearing daughter. Kotsur, who is also an Oscar nominee, is the first deaf actor to win a BAFTA.
“Have you probably considered a deaf James Bond?” He asked in his speech, gave in sign language.
Lashana Lynch, who starred as a double-0 agent in the Bond thriller “No Time to Die”, took home the Rising Star Award, the only category chosen by public vote. She thanked “the women of this country who taught me what it was like to be a black woman in this industry. I thank you for laying the foundation for people like me.”
“No Time to Die” also won the award for Best Editing.
Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Oscar-nominated play “Drive My Car” was named best film, not in English. “Encanto,” the story of a Colombian clan with magical powers, was named Best Animated Feature, and 1960s Harlem musical extraordinaire “Summer of Soul” won the Best Documentary award.
Sean Heder won the Adapted Screenplay Award for “CODA”. Best Original Screenplay went to Paul Thomas Anderson for the coming-of-age story “Liquorice Pizza”.
The British Awards are usually held a week or two before the Academy Awards and have become an important awards-season staging post. This year’s Oscars is on March 27.
The British Film Academy has expanded its voting membership and shaken up its rules in recent years in an effort to address an apparent lack of diversity in nominations. In 2020, for the seventh year in a row, no female was nominated for Best Director, and all 20 nominees in the leading and supporting cast categories were white.
Mazumdar said this year’s more diverse field showed that “change has arrived.” But the festivities of the cinema were cut short, with many attendees contemplating the raging of war on the other side of Europe.
Cumberbatch wore a lapel badge in the blue and yellow of the flag of Ukraine. He said it was a “monstrous sin” on Ukraine to protest Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “rain of terror”.
“It’s a very scary and sad time,” he said on the red carpet. “Although it’s a gesture, and people may say it’s hollow, it’s something I can do tonight” – with British politicians pressing for taking more refugees out of the war.
Jonas Pohar Rasmussen, director of the animated feature “Flea”, the story of an Afghan refugee, said it was “surreal” to be at an awards show when “the world is burning”.
But he said the photos of millions of people evacuated from their homes in Ukraine underscore the message that “these stories need to be told.”