Last night, as the industry’s great and good gathered in London’s Royal Festival Hall, the EE BAFTA Film Awards were announced in a ceremony emceed by Alan Cumming who was bedecked in a resplendent white blazer. True to its passage through the awards season, Paul Thomas Anderson’s highly topical One Battle After Another won six prizes, but ultimately the riches were shared between the various films, which enjoyed high nomination counts and with homegrown talent often being preferred throughout the ceremony (a sore point in these awards, given how they often mimic the Oscars’ choices).

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One Battle After Another nabbed many of the key prizes, such as Best Film, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, and cinephiles who’ve followed the career of the filmmaker otherwise known as PTA over the decades would’ve felt warmed to see him up there, clutching his awards. Whilst he refrained from any topical statements, as the film’s own politics are beyond doubt, his speeches paid special tribute to his UK-born assistant director and producer, Adam Somner, who passed away after completing work on the film.

Timothée Chalamet has also garnered much industry goodwill for his electric performance in Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme, and he must have been disappointed to see Robert Aramayo claim surprise Leading Actor victory for I Swear [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], in which he plays Scottish Tourette syndrome awareness activist John Davidson in a dramatisation of his life. Following a Toronto premiere back in the autumn, the film directed by Kirk Jones has gradually gathered momentum, earning both positive reviews and domestic box office success. Its wins last night represent a symbolic victory for the kind of accessible, down-to-earth British cinema that once curried favour, complementing the relative artiness of Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet [+leggi anche:
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In a very unfortunate moment, however, Davidson - who was attending the event as part of the I Swear film team – shouted out an involuntary racist remark as Sinners cast members Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting an award for Special Visual Effects. Davidson’s words could be heard throughout the auditorium and during the BBC TV broadcast, resulting in condemnation and a backlash from many prominent black entertainment figures. The British political commentator Ash Sarkar described the incident on X (read here) as a “genuine example of competing rights”.  

Among the European winners, Sentimental Value [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]. Mr. Nobody Against Putin [+leggi anche:
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Aside from the unfortunate afore-mentioned incident, it was a smoothly run show, with increasingly innuendo-laden gags from Cumming and a performance of Huntrix’s “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters providing a pleasing musical break from the ceremony’s suspenseful announcements, given how they swung away from expectations. But the Academy Award Ceremony on Sunday 15 March is sure to stir up even louder debate since its awardees are unlikely to pass up the opportunity for bolder, more political speeches.

The full list of winners is as follows:

Best Film
One Battle After Another - Paul Thomas Anderson (USA)

Outstanding British Film
Hamnet [+leggi anche:
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Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson - One Battle After Another

Best Leading Actress
Jessie Buckley – Hamnet

Best Leading Actor
Robert Aramayo - I Swear [+leggi anche:
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Best Supporting Actress
Wunmi Mosaku - Sinners (USA)

Best Supporting Actor
Sean Penn - One Battle After Another

Best Adapted Screenplay
Paul Thomas Anderson - One Battle After Another

Best Original Screenplay
Ryan Coogler - Sinners

Best Documentary
Mr. Nobody Against Putin [+leggi anche:
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Best Animated Film
Zootropolis 2 - Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino (USA)

Best Film Not in the English Language
Sentimental Value [+leggi anche:
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Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
My Father’s Shadow [+leggi anche:
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Best Children’s & Family Film
Boong - Lakshmipriya Devi, Ritesh Sidhwani (India)

Best Casting
Lauren Evans - I Swear

Best Cinematography
Michael Bauman - One Battle After Another

Best Editing
Andy Jurgensen - One Battle After Another

Best Production Design
Tamara Deverell, Shane Vieau - Frankenstein (USA)

Best Costume Design
Kate Hawley - Frankenstein

Best Make-up & Hair
Jordan Samuel, Cliona Furey, Mike Hill, Megan Many - Frankenstein

Best Special Visual Effects
Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Daniel Barrett, Eric Saindon - Avatar: Fire and Ash (USA)

Best Sound
Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo Juan Peralta - F1 (USA)

Best Original Score
Ludwig Göransson - Sinners

EE Rising Star Award
Robert Aramayo

Best British Short Film
This is Endometriosis - Georgie Wileman, Matt Houghton, Harriette Wright (UK)

Best British Short Animation
Two Black Boys in Paradise - Baz Sells, Dean Atta, Ben Jackson (UK)

Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema
Claire Binns

BAFTA Fellowship Award
Dame Donna Langley