It was another night to remember for 1917 as the British war thriller strolled to an impressive seven wins at last night’s BAFTA Film Awards ceremony.

Set during the First World War, the film overcame stern competition from the likes of Joker, Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood and Parasite to clinch the important Best Film prize, with filmmaker Sam Mendes triumphant in the Best Director category.

It also took home Outstanding British Film with additional wins coming in Cinematography, Production Design, Sound and Special Visual Effects.

This sweep comes at a perfect time for 1917 having also landed key wins at the Golden Globes and Producers Guild Awards. These achievements now leave the film well on course to claim Oscar glory next Sunday.

It was also a solid evening for Joker, as the dark comic-book drama picked up three wins, including yet another Leading Actor accolade for Joaquin Phoenix. Composer Hildur Guðnadóttir was also awarded for her musical score, while casting director Shayna Markowitz became the first recipient of the newly-formed Casting gong.

 

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.

Elsewhere, Renée Zellweger landed Leading Actress for her portrayal of legendary Hollywood star Judy Garland in the biopic 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 Supporting Actor for his role as veteran stunt double Cliff Booth in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. However, his co-star Margot Robbie read out a humorous speech written by him 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 Supporting Actress for her performance as divorce attorney 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.

There were two wins for the Korean thriller Parasite as it claimed Best Film Not in the English Language and Best Original Screenplay, while Taika Waititi won Best Adapted Screenplay for his work on Jojo Rabbit.

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

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

 

The EE Rising Star Award produced a surprise winner as Top Boy and Blue Story star Micheal Ward succeeded over fellow Brit Jack Lowden and American trio Awkwarfina, 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. 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 ACTRESS
Renée Zellweger, JUDY

BEST 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-wan)

BEST CASTING
JOKER (Shayna Markowitz)

 

BEST EDITING
LE MANS ’66

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
1917

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
1917

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
LITTLE WOMEN

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
BOMBSHELL

BEST SOUND
1917

BEST SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
1917

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
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

---

On a personal note, I would like to offer my congratulations to the Plaza Community Cinema, which was the recipient 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!