BAFTA 2020 Winners
Sam Mendes’ masterful war drama 1917 is the BAFTA big winner
There were no significant upsets or surprises as 1917 dominated the evening. Winning in seven of its nine nominated categories, Sam Mendes’ first world drama swept the major categories as the winner of Cinematography, Director, Outstanding British Film, and the major prize: Best Film.
It was a quiet night for the other Best Film nominees as only Joker and Parasite received multiple awards. Joaquin Phoenix continued his awards-season success by taking home Leading Actor while the South Korean film from Bong Joon Ho claimed Original Screenplay and Film Not In The English Language. There was nothing for Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman and only one win for Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood as Brad Pitt took Supporting Actor.
As with Joaquin Phoenix’s Lead Actor, the Leading Actress category was a foregone conclusion as Renée Zellweger continues to sweep the awards for her career-defining role as Judy Garland. Similarly unsurprising but equally deserving, Laura Dern won in a strong Supporting Actress category that included Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, and Margot Robbie twice.
The fabulous festive animation Klaus beat Frozen 2 and Toy Story 4 to claim best Animated Film, Top Boy and Blue Story’s Michael Ward was named the BAFTA Rising Star, and Andy Serkis was honoured with the Outstanding British Contribution To Film award.
A special mention should go to Mark Jenkin and everyone involved with Bait as the utterly unique, low-budget black and white Cornish film claimed the Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director, Or Producer award.
