The 2024 BAFTA Awards took place on Sunday night and it was Christopher Nolan’s film ‘Oppenheimer’ which had the most wins of the evening. The biopic film won seven prizes including Best Director, Best Film and Best Leading Actor awards. The movie also won for cinematography, editing and original score. It had also received nominations for costume design and production design. ‘Oppenheimer’ was a clear frontrunner for the Oscars as well. Its running mate Barbie left the awards empty-handed, as did Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and Celine Song’s Past Lives.
However, it was Searchlight’s Poor Things which had a rich showing as well. The dark fantasy satire based on the novel by Glaswegian polymath Alasdair Gray earned five BAFTAs including leading actress for Emma Stone as well as Costume, Make Up and Hair, Production Design and Special Visual Effects. The movie also had 11 nominations coming into the ceremony.
Many of the winners lauded the creative, risk-taking vision of the movie’s director Yorgos Lanthimos. Makeup artist Nadia Stacey said that he gave her team the freedom to go crazy with their designs, and costume designer Holly Waddington described it as “an experience like no other”.
Director Nolan praised his cast for pulling off the difficult material, noting that they “were in the most extreme and dangerous of circumstances, and they never wavered in their commitment to this project.” He also praised the film’s cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema for capturing the film’s epic scope using a combination of IMAX 65 mm and 35 mm large-format photography, along with some scenes shot in monochrome on a hand-held gimbal.
The other big winner of the night was US drama ‘American Fiction’ which won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. It was a surprise win for the script written by Darin Sweeney and Scott Wittman which was nominated in six categories including Best Picture. Other winners included ‘Poor Things’ with Supporting Actress for Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Casting, Alexander Payne’s 1970s-set prep school comedy with The Holdovers picking up two. British actor David Tennant (Doctor Who, Good Omens) was the host of the event held at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
The awards are presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, or BAFTA, a UK-based professional organization that honors film makers in Britain and internationally. Its members are drawn from the ranks of actors, musicians, writers, producers, designers and directors. The BAFTAs are widely regarded as the top honours in British film, and the winners often go on to receive honors at the Oscars. The winners are selected by BAFTA’s membership of around 3,000 film professionals. They vote on a shortlist of up to 15 films, with a maximum of seven awards being awarded. The winner is chosen by a majority vote. In addition, the BAFTA Academy Council votes for the Outstanding British Film Award and the Film Not in the English Language award. The winners are announced at a lavish ceremony in London’s Royal Festival Hall on the night of the awards, which is usually held on a Sunday.
