It was another exceptional evening for 1917 as the war thriller strolled to an impressive seven wins during last night’s EE BAFTA Film Awards ceremony.

The film, which follows two young soldiers sent on a critical mission in the First World War, overcame stern competition from the likes of Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, and Parasite to clinch the prestigious Best Film prize.

British auteur Sam Mendes clinched the Best Director award, while the film also picked up further wins for Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Sound, Best Special Visual Effects, and more lucratively, Outstanding British Film.

This sweep comes at a perfect time for 1917 having also landed key wins at the Golden Globes and Producers Guild Awards that now leaves it well on course to claim Oscar success next Sunday.

It was also a solid evening for Joker, as the psychological thriller picked up three wins, including yet another Best Leading Actor accolade for Joaquin Phoenix, who prevailed for his lauded performance as mentally-troubled comedian Arthur Fleck.

Phoenix took aim at “systemic racism” and “oppression” within the film industry in his acceptance speech. His words, and those of the Duke of Cambridge later, came in the wake of a diversity row prompted by the all-white line-up of acting nominees.

Additionally, Joker composer Hildur Guðnadóttir was also awarded the Best Original Music prize, while casting director Shayna Markowitz became the first recipient of the newly-formed Best Casting gong.

Elsewhere, Renée Zellweger took home the Best Leading Actress gong for her portrayal of Hollywood legend Judy Garland in the factual drama Judy.

Her competition included her co-star Jessie Buckley, who received a standing ovation on the night after performing another stirring rendition of “Glasgow” from her nominated performance in the music-based drama Wild Rose.

An absent Brad Pitt won Best Supporting Actor for his role as veteran stuntman Cliff Booth in Quentin Tarantino’s period epic Once Upon A Time…in Hollywood. However, his co-star Margot Robbie was on hand to collect the award and read out a humorous speech from Pitt that poked fun at Brexit and Prince Harry’s impending move across the Atlantic.

Laura Dern completed a quartet of all-American winners in the acting categories as she took home Best Supporting Actress for her turn as divorce lawyer Nora Fanshaw in the marital drama Marriage Story.

Phoenix, Zellweger, Pitt and Dern have now won their acting prizes at every major ceremony of the awards season so far, including the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards and Critics’ Choice Awards.

Meanwhile, there were two wins for the South Korean thriller Parasite as it secured Best Film Not in the English Language and Best Original Screenplay, while Taika Waititi won Best Adapted Screenplay for his work on the war satire Jojo Rabbit.

Other triumphant films on the night included the likes of Le Mans ’66 (Best Editing) Little Women (Best Costume Design), Bombshell (Best Makeup & Hairstyling), Bait (Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer) and a surprise Animated Film win for Netflix’s Klaus.

Elsewhere, the British film For Sama deservedly clinched the Documentary prize as filmmaker Waad Al-Kateab dedicated her award to “the great Syrian people as well as the nurses, doctors and volunteers”.

The EE Rising Star Award produced an unlikely outcome as Top Boy and Blue Story star Micheal Ward prevailed over American trio Awkwafina, Kaitlyn Dever and Kelvin Harrison Jr..

British actor and filmmaker Andy Serkis was honoured with the Outstanding British Contribution to Film award for his performance-capture work as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03), Kong in King Kong (2005), Caesar in the Planet of the Apes trilogy (2011-17) and Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017).

On the subject of Star Wars, LucasFilm president Kathleen Kennedy received the BAFTA Fellowship for her producing of various films over the past forty years including the Indiana Jones series (1981-2008), E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982), the Back to the Future trilogy (1985-90), the Jurassic Park series (1993-2001), Schindler’s List (1993), Saving Private Ryan (1998) and of course, the recent Star Wars trilogy (2015-19).

However, it was a bad night for Martin Scorsese’s crime epic The Irishman, as the film failed to win from any of its ten nominations, while British flicks Rocketman and The Two Popes also went home empty-handed.

The evening also saw Irish host Graham Norton surprisingly overshadowed by Rebel Wilson, who delivered a humorous monologue that ripped into her own film Cats, as well as the all-male directing line-up.

The full list of EE BAFTA winners are…

BEST FILM
1917

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
1917

BEST DIRECTOR
Sam Mendes, 1917

BEST LEADING ACTRESS
Renée Zellweger, JUDY

BEST LEADING ACTOR
Joaquin Phoenix, JOKER

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Laura Dern, MARRIAGE STORY

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Brad Pitt, ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
JOJO RABBIT (Taika Waititi)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
PARASITE (Bong Joon-Ho & Han Jin-won)

BEST CASTING
JOKER (Shayna Markowitz)

BEST EDITING
LE MANS ’66

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1917

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
1917

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
LITTLE WOMEN

BEST MAKEUP & HAIR
BOMBSHELL

BEST SOUND
1917

BEST SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
1917

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC
JOKER (Hildur Guðnadóttir)

BEST ANIMATED FILM
KLAUS

BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
PARASITE

BEST DOCUMENTARY
FOR SAMA

BEST BRITISH SHORT FILM
LEARNING TO SKATEBOARD IN A WARZONE (IF YOU’RE A GIRL)

BEST BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
GRANDAD WAS A ROMANTIC

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
BAIT, Mark Jenkin (Writer/Director), Kate Byers & Linn Waite (Producers)

EE RISING STAR AWARD
Micheal Ward

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO BRITISH CINEMA
Andy Serkis

BAFTA FELLOWSHIP
Kathleen Kennedy

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On a personal note, I would like to offer my congratulations to the Plaza Community Cinema, who were the recipients of the For The Love of Film award.

I had two spells volunteering there in 2011-12 and 2012-13, and it was a delight to see my former employers Janet Dunn and Martin Fol get the opportunity to attend last night’s ceremony.

Well done guys!