LONDON, UK – 12 Years a Slave, the distressing tale of a man sold into slavery, was the big winner at the Baftas on Sunday, February 16 (February 17 in Manila), giving the Steve McQueen directed picture a huge pre-Oscars boost.
The film, adapted from Solomon Northup’s 1853 memoir, took the coveted best film prize at a star-studded ceremony at London’s Royal Opera House.
It scored an earlier success when British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, who portrays free black man Northup as he is kidnapped and enslaved in the United States, walked away with the best actor prize.
London-born McQueen used his acceptance speech to thank his “one and only mother” and to highlight the issue of modern day slavery.
“There are 21 million people in slavery as we sit here,” he explained. “I just hope 150 years from now our ambivalence will not allow another film-maker to make this film”.
McQueen’s work beat off competition from crime-comedy American Hustle, pirate drama Captain Phillips, space sci-fi thriller Gravity and Philomena, the tale of an Irishwoman searching for a son taken by nuns.
However, Philomena did win in the adapted screenplay category. Leading actor Steve Coogan praised the “real Philomena Lee”, revealing that she was in the audience.
“Her story has been told and her story finished in the Vatican,” he said. “She has been heard but there are 60,000 women who are yet to trace their children”.
Rising star Jennifer Lawrence won the best supporting actress award for her role in American Hustle and Barkhad Abdi claimed the best supporting actor prize for his portrayal of a Somali pirate in Captain Phillips.
McQueen missed out on the best director award, which instead went to Mexican Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity.
Accepting his award, he said: “You can not tell from my accent but I consider myself a part of the British film industry”.
Australian Cate Blanchett paid tribute to late colleague Philip Seymour Hoffman, calling him “a continual profound touchstone”, as she claimed her best actress award for her part in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine.
“Phil, buddy, this is for you, you bastard,” she said. “I hope you’re proud.”
Italy’s The Great Beauty won the best film not in the English language. The film is also nominated for best foreign language film in the upcoming Academy Awards.
Nominated in the category was British director Sean Ellis’ heist thriller Metro Manila, one of the 3 Philippine-themed films submitted to the foreign language category in the upcoming Oscars. (Read: ‘Metro Manila’ film an Oscars entry)
Although Metro Manila did not make it to the final list of Oscar nominees, the film was named Best British Independent Film of the year at the 16th Moet British Independent Film Awards last November 8.
Here are the winners:
Best Film
WINNER: 12 Years A Slave – Anthony Katagas, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen
American Hustle – Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, Jonathan Gordon
Captain Phillips – Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca
Gravity – Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman
Philomena – Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, Tracey Seaward
Leading Actor
Bruce Dern – Nebraska
WINNER: Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
Christian Bale – American Hustle
Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
Leading Actress
Amy Adams – American Hustle
WINNER: Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Emma Thompson – Saving Mr. Banks
Judi Dench – Philomena
Sandra Bullock – Gravity
Supporting Actor
WINNER: Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper – American Hustle
Daniel Brühl – Rush
Matt Damon – Behind the Candelabra
Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave
Supporting Actress
WINNER: Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle
Julia Roberts – August: Osage County
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave
Oprah Winfrey – The Butler
Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine
Director
Steve McQueen – 12 Years A Slave
David O. Russell – American Hustle
Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips
WINNER: Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity
Martin Scorsese – The Wolf Of Wall Street
Adapted Screenplay
WINNER: Philomena – Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope
12 Years A Slave – John Ridley
Behind The Candelabra – Richard LaGravenese
Captain Phillips – Billy Ray
The Wolf Of Wall Street – Terence Winter
Animated Film
Despicable Me 2 – Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin
WINNER: Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Monsters University – Dan Scanlon
British Short Animation
Everything I Can See From Here – Bjorn-Erik Aschim, Friederike Nicolaus, Sam Taylor
I Am Tom Moody – Ainslie Henderson
WINNER: Sleeping With The Fishes – James Walker, Sarah Woolner, Yousif Al-Khalifa
Make-Up And Hair
WINNER: American Hustle – Evelyne Noraz, Lori McCoy-Bell, Kathrine Gordon
Behind The Candelabra – Kate Biscoe, Marie Larkin
The Butler – Debra Denson, Candace Neal, Robert Stevenson, Matthew Mungle
The Great Gatsby – Maurizio Silvi, Kerry Warn
The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug – Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater
British Short Fim
Island Queen – Ben Mallaby, Nat Luurtsema, Emma Hughes
Keeping Up With The Joneses – Megan Rubens, Michael Pearce, Selina Lim
Orbit Ever After – Chee-Lan Chan, Jamie Stone, Len Rowles
WINNER: Room 8 – James W. Griffiths, Sophie Venner
Sea View – Anna Duffield, Jane Linfoot
Original Film Music
12 Years A Slave – Hans Zimmer
The Book Thief – John Williams
Captain Phillips – Henry Jackman
WINNER: Gravity – Steven Price
Saving Mr. Banks – Thomas Newman
Cinematography
12 Years A Slave – Sean Bobbitt
Captain Phillips – Barry Ackroyd
WINNER: Gravity – Emmanuel Lubezki
Inside Llewyn Davis -Bruno Delbonnel
Nebraska – Phedon Papamichael
Original Screenplay
WINNER: American Hustle – Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell
Blue Jasmine – Woody Allen
Gravity – Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón
Inside Llewyn Davis – Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Nebraska – Bob Nelson
Costume Design
American Hustle – Michael Wilkinson
Behind The Candelabra -Ellen Mirojnick
WINNER: The Great Gatsby – Catherine Martin
The Invisible Woman – Michael O’Connor
Saving Mr. Banks – Daniel Orlandi
Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema
WINNER: Peter Greenaway
Outstanding British Film
WINNER: Gravity – Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman, Jonás Cuarón
Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom – Justin Chadwick, Anant Singh, David M. Thompson, William Nicholson
Philomena – Stephen Frears, Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, Tracey Seaward, Jeff Pope
Rush – Ron Howard, Andrew Eaton, Peter Morgan
Saving Mr. Banks – John Lee Hancock, Alison Owen, Ian Collie, Philip Steuer, Kelly Marcel, Sue Smith
The Selfish Giant – Clio Barnard, Tracy O’Riordan
Documentary
WINNER: The Act Of Killing – Joshua Oppenheimer
The Armstrong Lie – Alex Gibney
Blackfish – Gabriela Cowperthwaite
Tim’s Vermeer – Teller, Penn Jillette, Farley Ziegler
We Steal Secrets: The Story Of Wikileaks – Alex Gibney
Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director or Producer
Colin Carberry, Glenn Patterson – Good Vibrations
Kelly Marcel – Saving Mr. Banks
WINNER: Kieran Evans – Kelly + Victor
Paul Wright, Polly Stokes – For Those in Peril
Scott Graham – Shell
EE Rising Star
Dane DeHaan
George MacKay
Lupita Nyong’o
WINNER: Will Poulter
Léa Seydoux
Production Design
12 Years A Slave – Adam Stockhausen, Alice Baker
American Hustle – Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler
Behind The Candelabra – Howard Cummings, Barbara Munch-Cameron
Gravity – Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woollard
WINNER: The Great Gatsby – Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn
Editing
12 Years A Slave – Joe Walker
Captain Phillips – Christopher Rouse
Gravity – Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger
WINNER: Rush – Dan Hanley, Mike Hill
The Wolf Of Wall Street – Thelma Schoonmaker
Sound
All Is Lost – Richard Hymns, Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor, Micah Bloomberg, Gillian Arthur
Captain Phillips – Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, Chris Munro, Oliver Tarney
WINNER: Gravity – Glenn Freemantle, Skip Lievsay, Christopher Benstead, Niv Adiri, Chris Munro
Inside Llewyn Davis – Peter F. Kurland, Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff, Paul Urmson
Rush – Danny Hambrook, Martin Steyer, Stefan Korte, Markus Stemler, Frank Kruse
Fellowship
WINNER: Dame Helen Mirren
Special Visual Effects
WINNER: Gravity – Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, Neil Corbould, Nikki Penny
The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, Eric Reynolds
Iron Man 3 – Bryan Grill, Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Dan Sudick
Pacific Rim – Hal Hickel, John Knoll, Lindy De Quattro, Nigel Sumner
Star Trek Into Darkness – Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann, Burt Dalton
Film not in the English Language
The Act Of Killing – Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen
Blue Is The Warmest Colour – Abdellatif Kechiche, Brahim Chioua, Vincent Maraval
WINNER: The Great Beauty – Paolo Sorrentino, Nicola Giuliano, Francesca Cima
Metro Manila – Sean Ellis, Mathilde Charpentier (Read: ‘Metro Manila’ film an Oscars entry)
Wadjda – Haifaa Al-Mansour, Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul
– Rappler.com
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