Roma and The Favourite Shine at the BAFTAs

Matthew Moorey gives a rundown of this year’s BAFTA Awards, which took place on the 10th February.

The 72nd BAFTA awards produced very few surprises on the whole, with ‘The Favourite’ picking up the most number of awards with 7, followed by ‘Roma’ which picked up 4. ‘A Star is Born’ once again failed to make an impact, only winning one award. The list of winners is as follows:

Best Film: ‘Roma’

Perhaps the only real shock of the night was that this Netflix film claimed the top award, beating ‘The Favourite’, ‘Green Book’, ‘Blackkklansman’ and ‘A Star is Born’. In theory it shouldn’t really come as a shock win considering how much support that the Spanish speaking film has garnered. However, this is the first awards ceremony the film has had success in this category; the Golden Globes opted for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘Green Book’ while the SAGs winner was ‘Black Panther’. This really widens the field ahead on the Oscars ceremony on Sunday.

Outstanding British Film: ‘The Favourite’

Going from a potential shock to perhaps the least shocking winner, ‘The Favourite’ is (or at least was) seen as the leading British film ahead of the Oscars. It beat out ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ which has probably edged out ‘The Favourite’ so afar this awards season.

Best Actress: Olivia Colman

Again, no real surprise here. Olivia Colman’s performance as Queen Anne in ‘The Favourite’ has earned her a well-deserved first BAFTA film award. Glenn Close missed out despite having success elsewhere this awards season.

Best Actor: Rami Malek

Rami Malek continued his string of wins, adding this BAFTA to his Golden Globe and SAG award for his portrayal of the iconic Freddie Mercury in ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. He also looks set to add an Oscar to that list, as ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ continues to rightfully win awards despite its mixed reviews at initial release.

Best Supporting Actress: Rachel Weisz

‘The Favourite’ picked up another acting award as Rachel Weisz won this one, with fellow star Emma Stone also being nominated. Both are again nominated in this category for an Oscar.

Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali

Much like Rami Malek, Mahershala Ali has dominated his respective category during the awards season. He too looks set to add an Oscar to his collection, if he does it will be his second Oscar win from as many nominations. This was ‘Green Book’s only BAFTA win.

Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón

It was a very successful evening for Alfonso Cuarón, as his film ‘Roma’ won both Best Picture and Best Foreign Film as well as the award for Cinematography. Cuarón has won many plaudits for his unique style in the presentation of the drama ‘Roma’, set in early 1970’s Mexico City. Cuarón is another who looks likely to win an Oscar.

Best Animated Film: ‘Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse’

The animated Spiderman film has won many hearts for its portrayal of the beloved superhero and his many other-dimensional counterparts, with its win being especially poignant given that Spiderman is perhaps the most icon comic book hero created by the late Stan Lee.

Best Adapted Screenplay: ‘Blackkklansman’ (Spike Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel and Kevin Willmott)

Best Original Screenplay: ‘The Favourite’ (Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara)

Best Film not in the English Language (Foreign Film): ‘Roma’

Best Costume Design: ‘The Favourite’ (Sandy Powell)

Best Make up & Hair: ‘The Favourite’ (Nadia Stacey)

Best Original Music: ‘A Star Is Born’ (Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga and Lukas Nelson)

Best Cinematography: ‘Roma’ (Alfonso Cuarón)

Best Documentary: ‘Free Solo’

Best Sound: ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (John Casali, Tim Cavagin, Nina Hartstone, Paul Massey and John Warhurst)

Best Editing: ‘Vice’

Best Production Design: ‘The Favourite’ (Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton)

Best Special Visual Effects: ‘Black Panther’ (Geoffrey Baumann, Jesse James Chisholm, Craig Hammack and Dan Sudick)

EE Rising Star Award: Letitia Wright

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer: Michael Pearce (Writer/Director) and Lauren Dark (Producer), for ‘Beast’

Best British Short Film: ’73 Cows’

Best British Short Animation: ‘Roughhouse’

Fellowship Award: Thelma Schoonmaker

Special Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema – Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley (Producers)

By Matthew Moorey

Image Courtesy of Reuters