1917 dominates 2020 Film BAFTAs

Also picking up gongs for sound, production design, special visual effects and cinematography, 1917 was definitely the big winner of the night, even if it hadn’t managed to pick up nominations for lead actors George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman.

Other notable winners on the night included Joker’s Joaquin Phoenix for Best Actor (with Phoenix using his speech to address the lack of diversity in the acting community at large), Renée Zellweger for Best Actress and Brad Pitt for Best Supporting Actor, with the latter unable to attend but having Margot Robbie deliver a gag-filled speech in his absence.

South Korean director Bong-Joon Ho also impressed, picking up awards for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original screenplay for his critically-acclaimed thriller Parasite while Taika Waititi was awarded the Best Adapted Screenplay BAFTA.

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While there were no major shocks on the night (which was characterised by some very pointed jokes about the #BAFTAsSoWhite controversry) it was a disappointing showing for films like The Irishman with Martin Scorsese’s gangster epic picking up no awards despite having nine nominations.

Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood only picked up the award for Pitt, Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story had to settle for Laura Dern’s Best Supporting Actress win, and Greta Gerwig’s Little Women only bagged a win in the Costume category.

So what does this all mean for next week’s Oscars? Well, possibly not a lot – British movie 1917 was bound to have a home advantage, and may not perform quite as well in the States – but it definitely indicates good chances for Jojo Rabbit, Phoenix, Parasite and Pitt ahead of the Academy Awards on the 7th February.

You can read a full list of the 2020 BAFTA winners here.