Papal selection thriller Conclave and period drama The Brutalist were the big winners at the BAFTA Film Awards on Sunday, winning four prizes each, reported Reuters.
Conclave, which had led nominations with 12 nods, won the night's most coveted award, best film, as well as outstanding British film, best adapted screenplay and best editing.
"We live in a time of a crisis of democracy and institutions that are usually used to bring us together are used to pull us apart," Conclave director Edward Berger said in his acceptance speech for the outstanding British film award.
"And sometimes it's hard to keep the faith in that situation but that's why we make movies and that's why we made this movie."
The Brutalist, a three-and-a-half hour tale about a Hungarian immigrant architect trying to rebuild his life in the United States post-World War Two, had also been considered a frontrunner for best film. It won best director for Brady Corbet and best actor for its star, Adrien Brody.
"This film is really about this pursuit of leaving something meaningful and I think that is something we can all relate to," Brody said in his acceptance speech.
The Brutalist also won original score and cinematography.
In one of the big surprises of the night, Mikey Madison won the leading actress category for portraying an exotic dancer who gets involved with a Russian oligarch's son in Anora.
Many had considered the frontrunners to be Demi Moore, who has received multiple honours for her performance in body horror The Substance, and Briton Marianne Jean-Baptiste, for her critically acclaimed portrayal of a woman struggling with depression in Hard Truths.
"I really wasn't expecting this," Madison said.
"I want to take to a moment to recognise the sex worker community ... you deserve respect and human decency. I will always be your friend."
Anora, considered a strong awards season contender after it and director Sean Baker triumphed at the Critics Choice Awards, as well as the Producers and Directors Guild of America Awards ahead of next month's Academy Awards, was also up for best film, as was Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.
Saldaña, Culkin win
Fellow best film nominee Emilia Pérez, which mixes the diverse genres of musical and crime, triumphed in the film not in the English language category.
"This is too nice, you shouldn't have done that," director Jacques Audiard said, accepting his award. "This award is not just for me but everyone who worked tirelessly on this film."
He thanked the film's cast members, including an absent Karla Sofia Gascón, who had been nominated for leading actress.
Zoe Saldaña won supporting actress for her portrayal of a lawyer who helps a Mexican cartel leader, played by Gascón, fake his death and transition from a man to a woman.
Emilia Pérez had been an early awards frontrunner but its campaign lost steam following controversy surrounding Gascón, who has apologised for past social media posts denigrating Muslims and other groups and said she would go silent to help the film ahead of the Oscars.
In the supporting actor category, Kieran Culkin won for dramedy A Real Pain. The film also picked up best original screenplay for writer-director Jesse Eisenberg.
Other highlights
Meanwhile, according to the BBC, Wicked, the film adaptation of the hit musical, which was nominated for a whopping seven awards at the BAFTAs, came home with two wins. The film won the award for costume design, and production design. However, the musical's stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande missed out on winning leading actress and supporting actress. This is the first time either Grande or Erivo had been nominated for a Bafta film award.
Additionally, actor Warwick Davis, best known as Professor Flitwick in the Harry Potter films, received this year's BAFTA Fellowship, the British Academy's highest honour, and lifetime achievement award.
"It's very overwhelming, this whole thing," he said. "You win the award and then you have to talk to loads of people, feeling very shiny."
As per the publication, if this year's BAFTAs are an indicator of what might happen at the Academy Awards next month, the race is still wide open – unlike last year, when Oppenheimer swept up the British awards, winning best film, best director, best cinematographer as well as best actor, before going on to nab Oscar glory.
By contrast, this year Conclave has been awarded best film, but The Brutalist has won best director and best cinematography, making it harder to predict what will happen at the Oscars. It also remains to be seen whether Mikey Madison can repeat her best actress win in Los Angeles next month and upset Demi Moore's chances for her role in The Substance. REUTERS
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