A German remake of anti-war classic All Quiet on the Western Front won best picture at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards on Sunday, after triumphing in other key categories.
Based on the 1928 novel by German author Erich Maria Remarque about the horrors of the First World War from the perspective of a young German soldier, the Netflix drama had led BAFTA nominations with 14.
Besides the top honour, it won for adapted screenplay, film not in the English language, director for Edward Berger, cinematography, sound and original score. It bested dark comedy The Banshees of Inisherin, biopic Elvis, dimension-hopping Everything Everywhere All At Once and music drama Tár in the best picture category.
“Thank you for giving me the confidence for turning the doubts into faith to make this movie,” Berger said to his daughter in his acceptance speech for best director, in which he also gave thanks to his film crew and fellow nominees.
“It’s a huge, huge honour.”
Banshees, Butler, Blanchett win big
The Banshees of Inisherin, about two feuding friends on an island off the coast of Ireland, won outstanding British film, original screenplay and both supporting acting categories for Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan.
“Best what award?” director Martin McDonagh joked of the film, which was shot in Ireland with a largely Irish cast and crew. It has British funding, and McDonagh was born in Britain to Irish parents.
Austin Butler was a surprise winner in the leading actor category for his portrayal of Elvis Presley in Elvis. His competition was tight, having included Colin Farrell for Banshees and Brendan Fraser for The Whale, in which the Canadian-American actor plays a sick obese man trying to reconnect with his daughter.
Cate Blanchett, who plays a conductor of a Berlin orchestra whose career comes tumbling down due to an abuse scandal in Tár, won the leading actress prize. The other favourite in the category was Michelle Yeoh, who has already won awards for her portrayal of a laundromat owner unexpectedly introduced to an alternate multiverse in Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Journalist says he was banned from BAFTAs
Navalny, about jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, won the documentary category. Filmmakers dedicated the award to the Navalny family and Bulgarian investigative journalist Christo Grozev.
The journalist, whom Russia put on a wanted list in December, said on Friday he had been “banned by British police from attending” the BAFTAs for security reasons.
In response, London police said they did not and could not ban anyone from attending a private event. Decisions on attendance were for event organizers, it said.
Front Burner23:54Poison, pranks, prison: The making of ‘Navalny’
When Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption activist, was poisoned in 2020, he was relocated to Germany to recover. While he was there, he teamed up with a Bulgarian data-journalist named Christo Grozev, who claimed he had figured out who was behind the assassination attempt. Together, using advanced prank call technology, they managed to get an admission of guilt from a member of the team tasked with poisoning Navalny. There to capture it all was Canadian documentarian Daniel Roher. The resulting film, Navalny, is an up-close look at Navalny’s final months as a free man. Today on Front Burner, a conversation with Roher on what it was like to document Russia’s most famous political opposition leader as he recovered from an assassination attempt and made the decision to return to the country he wants to lead.
Sandy Powell became the first costume designer to get the BAFTA Fellowship, the highest honour bestowed by the academy.
The BAFTAs also remembered Britain’s late Queen Elizabeth, who died in September. Actress Helen Mirren, who won both a BAFTA and an Oscar for her portrayal of Elizabeth in the 2006 film The Queen, led a tribute.
See the full list of winners and nominees here.
For all the latest entertainment News Click Here
