Miss The BAFTA’s? We Have The Recap!

Clare Sidoti

Staff Writer

The stars of the silver screen descended on a cold, wet and sleety London tonight for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Film awards. The last major awards before the Academy Awards on 24^th February, the BAFTAs are often a precursor. The awards have foreseen six of the 12 Best Picture Oscar winners since the turn of the century, including every winner in the past 4 years – “Gladiator” (2000), “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003), “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008), “The Hurt Locker” (2009), “The King’s Speech” (2010), and “The Artist” (2012).

Hosted by the ever-entertaining Stephen Fry and held at the Royal Opera House in London’s Covent Garden, the awards celebrate the best of British and world cinema.

There were few surprises on the night. However, the biggest upset was French star Emmanuelle Riva (“Amour”) winning Best Actress over favourite “Silver Linings Playbook”, Jennifer Lawrence. This will surely close the gap between the two in the race for the Oscar.

“Lincoln” led the way with 10 nominations, but only scored one win – an unsurprising Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis. Having also walked away with the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild, he is widely tipped to take home the Oscar.

“Les Miserable” with 9 nominations fared much better; basically ensuring Anne Hathaway a Best Supporting Actress win in two weeks time and scoping the production pool winning 3 of their 5 nominations (Production Design; Hair and Make Up; and Sound).

Also receiving 9 nominations, Ang Lee’s visually stunning “Life of Pi” surprised no one taking home the awards for Cinematography and Special Visual Effects.

“Argo” continues its successful run winning Best Film and despite not receiving an Oscar’s nod, Ben Affleck has followed up his Golden Globes win with a BAFTA for Best Director. With Affleck’s snub, the Oscar for this category will certainly be one to watch.

There was much to celebrate for James Bond fans in the 60^th year of his first literary outing. Not only did “Skyfall” win Best Original Music but it also took home the BAFTA for Outstanding British Film.

All eyes now turn back to Hollywood in anticipation of the Oscars.

You can check out all the action from the red carpet and the ceremony at the BAFTAs website.

The complete list of winners are below.

BEST FILM

Winner: Argo

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

Winner: Skyfall