BAFTA 2023 WINNERS
All Quiet On The Western Front wins big at the BAFTAs.
Richard E Grant and Alison Hammond welcomed esteemed guests to the brand-new home of BAFTA to celebrate a year of cinema full of truly unforgettable films, but there was one stand out film that stole the show.
Despite equalling the record for the most BAFTA nominations for a foreign language film, very few expected All Quiet On The Western Front to sweep the board with a remarkable seven BAFTAs, including Best Film and best Director for Edward Berger.
The powerful, thought-provoking anti-war film - that follows the traumatic experiences of a young German soldier who’s poisoned by propaganda and heads to war for an adventure only to find himself in the midst of terror in the trenches - also claimed awards for Best Film Not In The English Language, Cinematography, Adapted Screenplay, Original Score, and Sound.
The second biggest winner on the night was The Banshees Of Inisherin. The brilliant black comedy about the fallout of two friends on a lonely Irish island claimed four awards as writer-director Martin McDonagh accepted awards for Outstanding British Film and Original Screenplay, while Kerry Condon was named best Supporting Actress and Barry Keoghan best Supporting Actor, who was nominated alongside his co-star Brendan Gleeson.
Gleeson wasn’t the only cast member to miss out on an award as Colin Farrell was pipped to Leading Actor by Austin Butler, whose transformative performance as Elvis was rewarded ahead of strong competition from Brendan Fraser, Daryl McCormack, Paul Mescal, and Bill Nighy. Butler’s win was one of four awards given to Baz Luhrmann’s triumphant, toe-tapping tribute to the King.
Meanwhile, there was little surprise in the Leading Actress category as Cate Blanchett claimed an expected win for her compelling and courageous performance as a tyrannical conductor whose life and career spirals out of control in Todd Field’s Tár.
Other notable winners on the night include first-time Scottish filmmaker Charlotte Wells claiming a much-deserved Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director, Or Producer BAFTA for her shattering Aftersun, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio picking up best Animated Film, Navalny being named best Documentary, Emma Mackey the publicly-voted Rising Star Award, and long-overdue recognition for costume design as the legendary Sandy Powell made history in receiving the BAFTA Fellowship.