BAFTA Film Awards: ‘Conclave’ (Best Film), ‘The Brutalist’ (Best Director and Actor) Win Four Each
The BAFTA Film Awards shared the love on Sunday evening, with Vatican drama Conclave picking up four wins, including for best film and outstanding British film, the same number of honors as Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, which earned the best director and best actor awards for Corbet and Adrien Brody, respectively.
Meanwhile, Mikey Madison received the best leading actress BAFTA for her role in Anora, which was also honored with the casting award for Sean Baker and Samantha Quan, while Zoe Salda?a earned the best supporting actress statuette for her work in Emilia Pérez. For the latter, director Jacques Audiard and Pascal Caucheteux also won the award for best film not in the English language.
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During the ceremony, hosted by Scottish star David Tennant (Doctor Who, Inside Man) at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, the Edward Berger-directed Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci and based on the novel by Robert Harris, also won the best adapted screenplay and editing BAFTA trophies.
The Brutalist also received the BAFTAs for best cinematography and score. In picking up the best director award, Corbet said that there wasn’t really such a thing as a best director. “It’s a joke,” he argued, tipping his hat to all the other director nominees in appreciation while still thanking BAFTA for the great honor.
Kieran Culkin won the best supporting actor BAFTA for his role in A Real Pain, for which writer-director Jesse Eisenberg, who also stars in the film, earned the best original screenplay honor.
In receiving her BAFTA, Madison shared that her mother is her favorite scene partner and thanked her for driving her to so many auditions and helping her put audition tapes together. She also said she wanted to “take a moment to recognize the sex worker community,” highlighting: “I just want to say that I see you. You deserve respect and human decency. I will always be a friend and ally.”
In his acceptance speech, Brody thanked his fellow nominees and BAFTA, along with Brits. “I want to thank the British public for embracing me and my creative endeavors,” he said. “England has felt quite a bit like home lately.” Plus, he thanked Brady and partner Mona Fastvold “for your artistic integrity and perseverance and for taking me along this amazing journey and destination.”
Salda?a called Emilia Pérez “a creative challenge of a lifetime.” And she said: “Films are supposed to change hearts and challenge minds, and I hope I did something like this. Voices need to be heard.” She also shared: “I was told not to cry by my children, so I’ll try.”
The team behind Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story won the best documentary honor, with Reeve’s children on stage drawing a big round of applause.
Earlier in the BAFTA night, Nick Park and his Aardman Animation colleagues won two honors for Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, namely for the best animated film and the inaugural children’s and family award.
Conclave had led the nominations with 12, ahead of the Jacques Audiard-directed Emilia Pérez‘s 11, and the Brady Corbet-directed The Brutalist‘s nine. With his Irish hip-hop biopic on Belfast-based rap trio Kneecap, Rich Peppiatt also made BAFTA history by tying the record for nominations for a debut filmmaker with six. He left Sunday night with one BAFTA, namely for outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer, with Peppiatt serving as both writer and director of the film.
Notably missing from Sunday’s BAFTA Awards attendees list was Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón, who earned a leading actress nomination. However, her awards campaign imploded following the discovery of controversial posts made on her X (previously Twitter) account. The star — the first trans actor to be nominated for an Oscar — apologized, but tensions are said to be high between Gascón and streamer Netflix for hindering the film’s Oscar hopes. As a result, she was phased out of its awards campaign entirely.
But in his acceptance speech for the honor for best film not in the English language, Audiard thanked his team and ended with: “And my dear Karla Sofía, je t’embrace.” That means “I embrace you” or “I hug you” in French. Salda?a also thanked her cast mates, including Gascón.
David Jonsson (Rye Lane, Alien: Romulus, Industry), the winner of the EE Rising Star Award, which is voted on by the public, said on stage: “I’ve got to be honest, this isn’t why I do it. I’m just an East London boy, but by way of reflection I didn’t really see a space for me in this industry. This award is about the people, and as long as we keep telling stories about people, I think there will be a space for me and for people like me and you and everyone watching at home. So, I’d like to dedicate this to the people – the dreamers, the grafters and the people just trying to do it a little bit different.”
Before the start of Sunday’s ceremony, BAFTA chair Sara Putt said her best wishes and thoughts were with “our colleagues in L.A.” affected by the wildfires. And she emphasized that BAFTA was continuing its focus on “leveling the playing field,” including via such moves as new children’s content honors.
During Sunday’s event, Warwick Davis received the BAFTA Fellowship from Tom Felton to a standing ovation following a tribute video featuring the likes of George Lucas, Mark Hamill and Ron Howard, while Simon Pegg honored MediCinema, the hospital charity providing cinema to patients. Hamill ended the BAFTA night on stage when he unveiled the best film winner.
Davis had the audience in stitches when he said: “This is probably the best thing that has happened to me — and I was in Star Wars.” But he later had the crowd in tears when he shared how hard the past year has been for him since the death of his wife Samantha.
In a pre-recorded opening sketch for the ceremony, Tennant was seen talking backstage to the likes of Helen Mirren and Gordon Cox. The sketch ended with Cox breaking into the popular song “500 Miles” and then walking onto stage, asking Colman Domingo and others in the audience to sing along.
In his opening monologue, Tennant compared the process shown in Conclave with the process of picking a new James Bond star. And he also drew laughs and applause with Donald Trump jokes.
An entertainment highlight of the BAFTA Film Awards was an appearance by British music legends Take That with a rendition of their hit song “Greatest Day,” which is featured in Anora. And Jeff Goldblum also made a musical contribution, playing “As Time Goes By” on the piano during the BAFTAs’ In Memoriam segment.
Check out the full list of BAFTA winners in each category, highlighted in bold.
Best Film
ANORA Alex Coco, Samantha Quan, Sean Baker
THE BRUTALIST Nick Gordon, Brian Young, Andrew Morrison, D.J. Gugenheim, Brady Corbet
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN Fred Berger, Alex Heineman, James Mangold
CONCLAVE Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, Michael A. Jackman
EMILIA PéREZ Pascal Caucheteux, Jacques Audiard
Leading Actress
CYNTHIA ERIVO Wicked
KARLA SOFíA GASCóN Emilia Pérez
MARIANNE JEAN-BAPTISTE Hard Truths
MIKEY MADISON Anora
DEMI MOORE The Substance
SAOIRSE RONAN The Outrun
Leading Actor
ADRIEN BRODY The Brutalist
TIMOTHéE CHALAMET A Complete Unknown
COLMAN DOMINGO Sing Sing
RALPH FIENNES Conclave
HUGH GRANT Heretic
SEBASTIAN STAN The Apprentice
Director
ANORA Sean Baker
THE BRUTALIST Brady Corbet
CONCLAVE Edward Berger
DUNE: PART TWO Denis Villeneuve
EMILIA PéREZ Jacques Audiard
THE SUBSTANCE Coralie Fargeat
Rising Star
MARISA ABELA
JHARREL JEROME
DAVID JONSSON
MIKEY MADISON
NABHAAN RIZWAN
Outstanding British Film
BIRD Andrea Arnold, Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, Lee Groombridge
BLITZ Steve McQueen, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Anita Overland
CONCLAVE Edward Berger, Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, Michael A. Jackman, Peter Straughan
GLADIATOR II Ridley Scott, Douglas Wick, Lucy Fisher, Michael Pruss, David Scarpa, Peter Craig
HARD TRUTHS Mike Leigh, Georgina Lowe
KNEECAP Rich Peppiatt, Trevor Birney, Jack Tarling, Naoise ó Cairealláin, Liam óg ó Hannaidh, JJ ó Dochartaigh
LEE Ellen Kuras, Kate Solomon, Kate Winslet, Liz Hannah, Marion Hume, John Collee, Lem Dobbs
LOVE LIES BLEEDING Rose Glass, Andrea Cornwell, Oliver Kassman, Wereonika Tofilska
THE OUTRUN Nora Fingscheidt, Sarah Brocklehurst, Dominic Norris, Jack Lowden, Saoirse Ronan, Amy Liptrot
WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham, Richard Beek, Mark Burton
Costume Design
BLITZ Jacqueline Durran
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN Arianne Phillips
CONCLAVE Lisy Christl
NOSFERATU Linda Muir
WICKED Paul Tazewell
MAKE UP & HAIR
DUNE: PART TWO Love Larson, Eva Von Bahr
EMILIA PéREZ Julia Floch Carbonel, Emmanuel Janvier, Jean-Christophe Spadaccini, Romain Marietti
NOSFERATU David White, Traci Loader, Suzanne Stokes-Munton
THE SUBSTANCE Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon, Frédérique Arguello, Marilyne Scarselli
WICKED Frances Hannon, Laura Blount, Sarah Nuth
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
ADIóS José Prats, Natalia Kyriacou, Bernardo Angeletti
MOG’S CHRISTMAS Robin Shaw, Joanna Harrison, Camilla Deakin, Ruth Fielding
WANDER TO WONDER Nina Gantz, Stienette Bosklopper, Simon Cartwright, Maarten Swar
BRITISH SHORT FILM
THE FLOWERS STAND SILENTLY, WITNESSING Theo Panagopoulos, Marissa Keating
MARION Joe Weiland, Finn Constantine, Marija Djikic
MILK Miranda Stern, Ashionye Ogene
ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS Franz B?hm, Ivan, Hayder Rothschild Hoozeer
STOMACH BUG Matty Crawford, Karima Sammout-Kanellopoulou
Documentary
BLACK BOX DIARIES Shiori Ito, Hanna Aqvilin, Eric Nyari
DAUGHTERS Natalie Rae, Angela Patton
NO OTHER LAND Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor
SUPER/MAN: THE CHRISTOPHER REEVE STORY Ian Bonh?te, Peter Ettedgui, Lizzie Gilliett, Robert Ford
WILL & HARPER Josh Greenbaum, Rafael Marmor, Christopher Leggett, Will Ferrell, Jessica Elbaum
Cinematography
THE BRUTALIST Lol Crawley
CONCLAVE Stéphane Fontaine
DUNE: PART TWO Greig Fraser
EMILIA PéREZ Paul Guilhaume
NOSFERATU Jarin Blaschke
Editing
ANORA Sean Baker
CONCLAVE Nick Emerson
DUNE: PART TWO Joe Walker
EMILIA PéREZ Juliette Welfling
KNEECAP Julian Ulrichs, Chris Gill
Casting
ANORA Sean Baker, Samantha Quan
THE APPRENTICE Stephanie Gorin, Carmen Cuba
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN Yesi Ramirez
CONCLAVE Nina Gold, Martin Ware
KNEECAP Carla Stronge
Supporting Actress
SELENA GOMEZ Emilia Pérez
ARIANA GRANDE Wicked
FELICITY JONES The Brutalist
JAMIE LEE CURTIS The Last Showgirl
ISABELLA ROSSELLINI Conclave
ZOE SALDA?A Emilia Pérez
Supporting Actor
YURA BORISOV Anora
KIERAN CULKIN A Real Pain
CLARENCE MACLIN Sing Sing
EDWARD NORTON A Complete Unknown
GUY PEARCE The Brutalist
JEREMY STRONG The Apprentice
Original Screenplay
ANORA Written by Sean Baker
THE BRUTALIST Written by Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold
KNEECAP Writer Rich Peppiatt, Story by Rich Peppiatt, Naoise ó Cairealláin, Liam óg ó Hannaidh, JJ ó
Dochartaigh
A REAL PAIN Written by Jesse Eisenberg
THE SUBSTANCE Written by Coralie Fargeat
Adapted Screenplay
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN Screenplay by James Mangold and Jay Cocks
CONCLAVE Screenplay by Peter Straughan
EMILIA PéREZ Written by Jacques Audiard
NICKEL BOYS Screenplay by RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes
SING SING Screenplay by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Story by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence
‘Divine Eye’ Maclin, John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield
Original Score
THE BRUTALIST Daniel Blumberg
CONCLAVE Volker Bertelmann
EMILIA PéREZ Camille, Clément Ducol
NOSFERATU Robin Carolan
THE WILD ROBOT Kris Bowers
SOUND
BLITZ John Casali, Paul Cotterell, James Harrison
DUNE: PART TWO Ron Bartlett, Doug Hemphill, Gareth John, Richard King
GLADIATOR II Stéphane Bucher, Matthew Collinge, Paul Massey Danny Sheehan
The Substance Valérie Deloof, Victor Fleurant, Victor Praud, Stéphane Thiébaut, Emmanuelle Villard
WICKED Robin Baynton, Simon Hayes, John Marquis, Andy Nelson, Nancy Nugent Title
Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
HOARD Luna Carmoon (Director, Writer)
KNEECAP Rich Peppiatt (Director, Writer)
MONKEY MAN Dev Patel (Director)
SANTOSH Sandhya Suri (Director, Writer), James Bowsher (Producer), Balthazar de Ganay (Producer)
[also produced by Alan McAlex, Mike Goodridge]
SISTER MIDNIGHT Karan Kandhari (Director, Writer)
Animated Film
FLOW Gints Siibalodis, Matīss Ka?a
INSIDE OUT 2 Kelsey Mann, Mark Nielsen
THE WILD ROBOT Chris Sanders, Jeff Hermann
WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham, Richard Beek
Film Not in the English Language
ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT Payal Kapadia, Thomas Hakim
EMILIA PéREZ Jacques Audiard, Pascal Caucheteux
I’M STILL HERE (AINDA ESTOU AQUI) Walter Salles, Maria Carlota Bruno, Rodrigo Teixeira
KNEECAP Rich Peppiatt, Trevor Birney, Jack Tarling
THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG Mohammad Rasoulof, Amin Sadraei
Children’s and Family Film
FLOW Gints Siibalodis, Matīss Ka?a
KENSUKE’S KINGDOM Kirk Hendry, Neil Boyle, Camilla Deakin
WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL Nick Park, Merlin Crossingham, Richard Beek
THE WILD ROBOT Chris Sanders, Jeff Hermann
Production Design
THE BRUTALIST Judy Becker, Patricia Cuccia
CONCLAVE Suzie Davies, Cynthia Sleiter
DUNE: PART TWO Patrice Vermette, Shane Vieau
NOSFERATU Craig Lathrop
WICKED Nathan Crowley, Lee Sandales
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
BETTER MAN Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft, Peter Stubbs
DUNE: PART TWO Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Gerd Nefzer, Rhys Salcombe
GLADIATOR II Mark Bakowski, Neil Corbould, Nikki Penny, Pietro PontiKINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Erik Winquist, Rodney Burke, Paul Story, Stephen Unterfranz
WICKED Pablo Helman, Paul Corbould, Jonathan Fawkner, Anthony Smith
This story was first published on Feb. 16 at 9:01 a.m.
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