BAFTA awards 2020: '1917' and 'Parasite' win big
The 73rd British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards were presented on Sunday at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Sam Mendes's epic war drama 1917 dominated the awards, winning in as many as seven categories, including Best film and Best director, while Bong Joon-ho's globally acclaimed Parasite grabbed two awards. Here are all the winners of BAFTA 2020.
1917, the visual extravaganza based in World War-I era, emerged as the biggest winner on Sunday night. Apart from Best film and Best director, it also won awards for Best special visual effects, Best cinematography, Best production design, Best sound, and Outstanding British film. 1917 previously grabbed Best drama and Best director at Golden Globes, and is a promising contender at upcoming Oscars ceremony.
Todd Phillips's comicbook-inspired psychological thriller film Joker was expected to win big at the ceremony, after securing 11 nominations, the most for any film. However, it ended up winning only three, including Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix, the newly-added Best casting award, and the Best original score. Meanwhile, Joker has 11 nominations across categories at the 92nd Academy awards, scheduled for Monday, February 10.
While receiving his award for Best Actor, Phoenix said that he felt "conflicted". He said, "I think that we send a very clear message to people of color that you're not welcome here." Notably, this time BAFTA faced severe criticism for not including people of color and women in key categories. Similar complaints have also been made about Golden Globes and Academy awards.
Wow I was not expecting that from #JoaquinPhoenix but this shit needed to be said! Watch it, take it in ask yourself tomorrow when you return to set, what the hell are you doing to make your film/tv set more inclusive! #RepresentationMatters #BAFTA pic.twitter.com/qqYXYIHDFH
— Shibbir Ahmed (@Shibbir1) February 2, 2020
Further, Bong Joon-ho's globally acclaimed thriller drama Parasite, that explores issues of greed and class discrimination through the relationship between a wealthy family and a poor clan, grabbed the awards for Best non-English film, and Best original screenplay (for Han Jin Won and Bong Joon-ho). Parasite is also the first Korean film to be nominated for Best Picture at Oscars.
Interestingly, the award for Best actress went to Renee Zellweger (for Judy). Brad Pitt was declared the Best supporting actor (for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), while Laura Dern Best supporting actress (for Marriage Story). The award for Best adapted screenplay was grabbed by Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit), and the award for Best animated film by Klaus. Kathleen Kennedy received the BAFTA fellowship.
Actor/director Andy Serkis received the award for Outstanding British contribution to cinema, while the award for Outstanding debut by a British writer/director/producer went to producers Kate Byers and Linn Waite, and writer/director Mark Jenkin for Bait.
