‘All Quiet’ Wins 7 BAFTAs, Including Best Film, At UK Awards

LONDON, England BAFTA— The antiwar German film “All Quiet on the Western Front” won seven awards, including best picture, at the British Academy Film Awards on Sunday, bolstering the somber drama’s momentum as awards season approaches its climax at the Oscars next month.

The Irish tragicomedy “The Banshees of Inisherin” and the rock biopic “Elvis” won four awards.

Edward Berger won the best director award for his film “All Quiet,” a visceral depiction of life and death in World War I trenches based on Erich Maria Remarque’s classic novel. It also won awards for the best-adapted screenplay, cinematography, best score, best sound, and best film not in English.

Austin Butler won best actor for his performance in “Elvis.” The dazzling musical by Baz Lurhmann also won awards for casting, costume design, and hair and makeup. Cate Blanchett was named best actress for her performance in the orchestral drama “Tár.”

Martin McDonagh’s “Banshees,” a bleakly comic story about a sour friendship, was named the best British film.

“Best what award?” McDonagh joked about the film, shot in Ireland with a predominantly Irish cast and crew. The British government funds it, and McDonagh was born in the United Kingdom to Irish parents.

The BAFTA Awards Was A Star-Studded Affair

“Banshees” also won for McDonagh’s original screenplay, as well as best supporting actress Kerry Condon and best-supporting actor Barry Keoghan.

The awards, officially known as the EE BAFTA Film Awards, are Britain’s equivalent of Hollywood’s Academy Awards and will be closely watched for hints as to who will win at the Oscars on March 12.

The Academy Award frontrunner, “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once,” was the night’s big loser, winning only one of its ten BAFTA nominations for editing.

The ceremony at London’s Royal Festival Hall was hosted by actor Richard E. Grant, who was suave and self-deprecating, with help from TV presenter Alison Hammond. The U.K.’s film academy lauded its efforts to become more diverse but said there was still work to be done.

In his opening monologue, Grant made a joke about the infamous Oscars brawl between Will Smith and Chris Rock.

“Nobody gets slapped tonight on my watch,” he said. “Except the back.”

Colin Farrell, Ana de Armas, Eddie Redmayne, Brian Cox, Florence Pugh, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Cynthia Erivo, Julianne Moore, and Lily James were the guests and presenters who walked the red carpet on the south bank of the River Thames.

Helen Mirren paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II

The throne’s heir The audience included Prince William, president of the British Film and Television Academy, and his wife, Kate. William wore a tuxedo with a black velvet jacket, while Kate wore a floor-length Alexander McQueen gown, which she also wore to the BAFTAs in 2019.

Helen Mirren paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, William’s grandmother, who died in September. Mirren, who played the late Queen in “The Queen” and “The Audience,” called Elizabeth “the nation’s leading lady.”

In 2020, the British Film Academy made changes to increase the awards’ diversity, as no women were nominated for best director for the seventh year in a row, and all 20 nominees in the lead and supporting performer categories were white.

This year, 11 female directors were nominated for awards in all categories, including documentary and animated films. Only one of the main best-director nominees, Gina Prince-Bythewood for “The Woman King,” was a woman.

BAFTA chair Krishnendu Majumdar described the academy’s soul-searching as “necessary and humbling.” He stated that the “crucial work of leveling the playing field” would be continued.

Ariana DeBose, who starred in “West Side Story,” opened the show with “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves,” which included a rap shoutout to some of the nominated women, including Blanchett, Michelle Yeoh, and Viola Davis.

“It’s been an extraordinary year for female performers,” Blanchett said. To be counted among them is truly unique.”

The Irish BAFTA’s

Irish actors had a strong year at the BAFTAs, with Deryl McCormack nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star award — which he lost to Emma Mackey — and Condon, Keoghan, Farrell, and Brendan Gleeson all receiving acting nominations for “Banshees.”

The event was dubbed “the Irish BAFTAs” by McCormack.

“It’s a small country, but the talent that comes out of it is incredible,” he said.

Charlotte Wells won the award for best British debut for her touching father-daughter drama “Aftersun.” Sandy Powell, a three-time Oscar winner, became the first costume designer to receive the BAFTA fellowship.

The harsh world outside showbiz intruded on the awards when Bulgarian journalist Christo Grozev, who works for the investigative website Bellingcat, said he was no longer allowed to attend due to a threat to public security. He appears in “Navalny,” a documentary about imprisoned Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny that won the BAFTA for best documentary.

Odessa Rae, the producer of “Navalny,” dedicated the award to Grozev, who she described as “our Bulgarian nerd with a laptop who couldn’t be with us tonight because his life is under threat by the Russian government and Vladimir Putin.”

Jamie Lee Curtis, a supporting actress nominee for “Everything, Everything,” said the opportunity to celebrate cinema provided by awards season is more important than who wins.

“It’s a moment of celebration amid everything,” Curtis said on the red carpet to The Associated Press. “It’s tough out there. Everywhere. At the same time. Every time.”

SOURCE – (AP)