The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has just finished presenting their awards for excellence in film for 2013. Many of the awards went exactly as expected, but there were more than a few surprises to say the least.
Starting off with the top categories, the worst possible scenario occurred as 12 Years a Slave won Best Film and Gravity took Outstanding British Film, meaning that we are no closer to determining which is going to be the favorite film come Oscar night. For a while there, it seemed that BAFTA had forgotten that 12 Years even existed, shockingly ignoring the film for Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and even Best Adapted Screenplay. However, it finally managed to garner a win in the Best Actor category before going on to take Best Film.
Going strictly by the numbers, the big winner of the night was Gravity, which won six awards (double the amount of its closest competitor) including Outstanding British Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Visual Effects. Other films to win more than one award included American Hustle (Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Makeup and Hair) and The Great Gatsby (Best Production Design and Best Costume Design).
Come Oscar night, several of these will be different, of course. Her is the overwhelming favorite to win Best Original Screenplay, while 12 Years is the clear favorite to win Best Adapted Screenplay. Also, with Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto in the mix, you can expect them to take their respective categories. Does Jennifer Lawrence’s win in Supporting Actress signal a change in the air? Probably not, especially with Lupita Nyong’o winning the SAG award.
The one technical category that I was hoping we’d get a little more concrete results with was Best Editing. Gravity has been the favorite throughout awards season by far, but it was Captain Phillips that won the ACE Eddie. However, BAFTA pushed them both aside to give Best Editing to Rush, a film that is not even up for the corresponding Oscar. Looks like the debate on that one will have to continue right up until the ceremony.
The same has to be said of Best Picture as well. With BAFTA honoring both Gravity and 12 Years a Slave in their two Best Film categories, there’s no way to tell which film they liked more overall and so, for the first time that I can recall, we will head into the Oscar ceremony without a clear indication of who will be taking home the top prize. I’ve already given you my analysis of who I think will take it and why, but like everyone else, all I can do is speculate with the information that we have available. This is one ceremony where we’ll just have to wait until the very end to see what happens.
Be sure to join us on the big night, March 2nd, as we’ll be live-blogging the results of the 86th Annual Academy Awards. In the meantime, check out the complete list of winners for this year’s BAFTA awards and let us know what you think in the comments!
Best Film: 12 Years a Slave
Outstanding British Film: Gravity
Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Best Supporting Actor: Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Best Original Screenplay: American Hustle
Best Adapted Screenplay: Philomena
Best Editing: Rush
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, Gravity
Best Production Design: The Great Gatsby
Best Costume Design: The Great Gatsby
Best Original Music: Gravity
Best Makeup and Hair: American Hustle
Best Sound: Gravity
Best Visual Effects: Gravity
Best Film Not in the English Language: The Great Beauty
Best Animated Film: Frozen
Best Documentary: The Act of Killing
Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer: Kieran Evans
Best British Short Film: Room 8
Best British Short Animation: Sleeping with the Fishes
The EE Rising Star Award: Will Poulter
Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema: Peter Greenaway
6 Wins – Gravity
3 Wins – American Hustle
2 Wins – 12 Years a Slave, The Great Gatsby