London: Politically charged action thriller One Battle After Another has won six prizes including best picture at Britain’s BAFTA film awards.
Vampire saga Sinners and gothic horror story Frankenstein each won three prizes. Paul Thomas Anderson was named best director for One Battle After Another.
Jessie Buckley won the best actress prize for Hamnet, while Robert Aaramayo took the best actor prize for the British indie film I Swear, beating stars including Leonardo DiCaprio and Timothee Chalamet.
The British awards offer clues about who may win at the Academy Awards in Hollywood next month.
Hollywood stars and British celebrities, from Paddington Bear to the Princess of Wales, gathered Sunday for the British Academy Film Awards, where politically charged thriller One Battle After Another and blues-steeped epic Sinners fought it out for the top prizes.
The two films are both up for best picture and snagged early prizes, with Wunmi Mosaku taking the supporting actress award for Sinners, and Sean Penn winning the supporting actor trophy for One Battle After Another.
Sinners writer-director Ryan Coogler also won the prize for best original screenplay, while One Battle filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson took the trophy for best adapted screenplay.
The best film nominees are One Battle After Another, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, Sinners and Sentimental Value.
Shakespearean family tragedy Hamnet was named best British film – a separate category – and oddsmakers suggested it could beat the front-runners to best picture if British film industry voters respond to the emotionally rich story, earthy English setting and intense performances in Chloe Zhao’s adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s historical novel.
Stars including Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothee Chalamet, Emma Stone, Cillian Murphy, Glenn Close and Ethan Hawke were among those walking the red carpet outside London’s Royal Festival Hall before a black-tie ceremony hosted by Scottish actor Alan Cumming.
Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales also attended, three days after William’s uncle Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested by police and held for 11 hours over allegations he sent sensitive government information to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The scandal has rocked the royal family led by King Charles III, though William and Kate remain popular standard-bearers for the monarchy. William is due to present an award in his role as president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Among the biggest receptions from gathered fans was for Paddington, the puppet bear who stars in a musical stage adaption of the beloved children’s classic.
Oscars bellwether
One Battle went into the ceremony with 14 nominations, including best picture and acting nods for five of its cast. Sinners was just behind with 13, while Hamnet and the ping-pong odyssey Marty Supreme each had 11 nominations.
Guillermo del Toro’s reimagining of Frankenstein and Norwegian family drama Sentimental Value each got eight nominations.
Frankenstein took awards for production design, costume design and for the hair and makeup artists who spent 10 hours a day transforming Jacob Elordi into the movie’s monstrous creature.
Sentimental Value won the prize for the best film not in English.
The British prizes, officially called the EE BAFTA Film Awards, often provide hints about who will win at Hollywood’s Academy Awards, held this year on March 15. In the Oscar nominations, Sinners leads the race with a record 16 nominations, followed by One Battle After Another with 13.
Cumming told the audience that it had been a strong year for cinema, if not a cheerful one, with nominated films tackling themes including child death, racism and political violence:
Watching the films this year was like taking part in a collective nervous breakdown, he said. It’s almost as though there are events going on in the real world that are influencing filmmakers.
The ceremony was more glitz than gloom, though, including a performance by Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami – the voices of animated band HUNTR/X in box office juggernaut KPop Demon Hunters – singing the movie hit Golden.
Directing contenders are Anderson for One Battle, Josh Safdie for Marty Supreme, Coogler for Sinners, Yorgos Lanthimos for dystopian tragicomedy Bugonia, Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value and Zhao for Hamnet. Zhao will be the first female director to win two BAFTAs if she takes the prize. She won the directing award in 2021 for Nomadland.
Best leading actor nominees are bookies’ favorite Chalamet for Marty Supreme, DiCaprio for One Battle After Another, Ethan Hawke for Broadway biopic Blue Moon, Michael B. Jordan for Sinners, Jesse Plemons for Bugonia and Robert Aramayo for playing an advocate for people with Tourette’s syndrome in biographical drama I Swear.
Putin critic wins best documentary
The best-documentary prize went to Mr. Nobody Against Putin, about a Russian teacher who documented the propaganda imposed on Russian schools after the invasion of Ukraine.
The film’s American director David Borenstein said that teacher Pavel Talankin had shown that whether it’s in Russia or the streets of Minneapolis, we always face a moral choice, referring to the protests against U.S. immigration enforcement in Minnesota.
