Papal thriller Conclave and immigrant epic The Brutalist on Sunday, February 16, emerged neck-and-neck at the BAFTA awards with each film picking up four coveted gongs. Conclave, directed by German-born Edward Berger, won the BAFTA for the best film with its tale of the intrigue and horse-trading behind the scenes during the election of a new pope. Accepting the award, Berger recalled the journey to make the film took seven years, paying tribute to British screenplay writer Peter Straughan's "wonderful script" and lead actor Ralph Fiennes.
US filmmaker Brad Corby took the BAFTA for best director for The Brutalist, while leading man Adrien Brody scooped up the best actor gong for his portrayal of a Hungarian Holocaust survivor and architect who emigrates to the United States. Veteran British actor Fiennes, who played a cardinal in Conclave, once again saw his hopes of winning a BAFTA gong dashed, losing out to Brody in the race for the honour.
Scandal-hit Emilia Perez, a surreal musical about a Mexican druglord who transitions to a woman, had been heavily favoured at the beginning of the year. But it only emerged with two BAFTAs, including one for Zoe Saldana for best supporting actress.
Until last month, French director Jacques Audiard's movie had been expected to be a frontrunner at the British film awards. But old racist and Islamophobic tweets by lead actor Karla Sofia Gascon surfaced at the end of January, shaking up the race just before the London ceremony and the Oscars on March 2.
A surprise of the night was the BAFTA for best actress which went to 25-year-old Mikey Madison for her portrayal of a sex worker in the black comedy Anora about an erotic dancer's whirlwind romance gone wrong. Accepting the award, Madison said she wanted to dedicate the award to "the sex worker community, I see you, you deserve respect and human dignity."
Demi Moore, Timothée Chalamet and Ariana Grande were also at the glitzy evening hosted by Doctor Who and Good Omens star David Tennant, but all emerged empty-handed. Best supporting actor went to Kieran Culkin for his role in A Real Pain about Jewish American cousins who tour Poland in honour of their grandmother.
Saldana, who won a Golden Globe in January for her role as the sassy lawyer in Emilia Perez, said she was dedicating her BAFTA award to her trans nephew. "They are the reason I signed to do the film in the first place", adding she would "always stand" with the LGBTQ community, which has come under attack under the new presidency of Donald Trump.
Conclave also picked up awards for outstanding British film, editing and best adapted screenplay, while The Brutalist took awards for cinematography and original score. Wicked picked up two BAFTAs including for production design, while Rich Peppiatt who wrote Kneecap, a docu-drama about an audacious trio of Northern Irish rappers, won for an outstanding debut by a British writer.
Dune: Part Two won BAFTAs for both special visual effects and best sound. To huge cheers from the audience, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl picked up two BAFTAs for best animated feature and the best in the Children's and Family film category.
Although they can often set the tone for the Oscars, the BAFTAs – the biggest night of the year for the British film industry – regularly diverge from the films favoured by the Academy Awards in Los Angeles, which holds its ceremony on March 2. France's Coralie Fargeat was the only woman nominated in the directing category, for The Substance.