LONDON — Politically charged thriller "One Battle After Another" won six prizes, including best picture, at the British Academy Film Awards on Sunday, building momentum ahead of Hollywood's Academy Awards next month.
Blues-steeped vampire epic "Sinners" and gothic horror story "Frankenstein" won three awards each, while Shakespearean family tragedy "Hamnet" won two including best British film.
“One Battle After Another,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s explosive film about a group of revolutionaries in chaotic conflict with the state, won awards for directing, adapted screenplay, cinematography and editing, as well as for Sean Penn’s supporting performance as an obsessed military officer.
“This is very overwhelming and wonderful,” Anderson said as he accepted the directing prize. He paid tribute to his longstanding assistant director, Adam Somner, who died of cancer in November 2024 a few weeks into production.
“We have a line from Nina Simone that we used in our film, ‘I know what freedom is: It’s no fear,’” the director said. “Let’s keep making things without fear. It’s a good idea.”
Bookies' favorite Jessie Buckley won the best actress prize for playing grieving mother Agnes Hathaway, wife of William Shakespeare, in “Hamnet.” She is the first Irish performer to win a best actress prize at the awards, known as BAFTAs.
In a major upset, Robert Aramayo won the best actor category for his performance in “I Swear,” a British indie drama about a campaigner for people with Tourette's syndrome.
The 33-year-old British actor looked stunned and called the victory over Ethan Hawke, Michael B. Jordan, Leonardo DiCaprio and Timothée Chalamet “absolutely mad.”
“I absolutely can’t believe this,” he said. “Everyone in this category blows me away.”
“Sinners” took home trophies for director Ryan Coogler's original screenplay, the film's musical score and for Wunmi Mosaku's supporting actress performance as herbalist and healer Annie.
The British-Nigerian actor said that in the role she found “a part of my hopes, my ancestral power and my connection, parts I thought I had lost or tried to dim as an immigrant trying to fit in.”
Stars and royalty
Hollywood stars and British celebrities, from Paddington Bear to the Prince and Princess of Wales, gathered at London's Royal Festival Hall for the awards. DiCaprio, Chalamet, Emma Stone, Cillian Murphy, Glenn Close and Ethan Hawke were among the stars walking the red carpet before a black-tie ceremony hosted by Scottish actor Alan Cumming.
Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales also attended, three days after William's uncle Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested by police and held for 11 hours over allegations he sent sensitive government information to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The scandal has rocked the royal family led by King Charles III, though William and Kate remain popular standard-bearers for the monarchy. William is due to present an award in his role as president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Among the biggest receptions from gathered fans was for Paddington, the puppet bear who stars in a musical stage adaption of the beloved children's classic.
Oscars bellwether
The British prizes, officially called the EE BAFTA Film Awards, often provide hints about who will win at Hollywood's Academy Awards, held this year on March 15. "Sinners" has a record 16 Oscar nominations, followed by "One Battle After Another" with 13.
“One Battle” went into the BAFTAs ceremony with 14 nominations. “Sinners” was just behind with 13, while “Hamnet” had 11.
Ping-pong odyssey "Marty Supreme" also had 11 nominations but went home empty=handed.
Guillermo del Toro's reimagining of "Frankenstein" and Norwegian family drama " Sentimental Value" each got eight nominations.
“Frankenstein” took awards for production design, costume design and for the hair and makeup artists who spent 10 hours a day transforming Jacob Elordi into the movie's monstrous creature.
“Sentimental Value” won the prize for the best film not in English.
Cumming told the audience that it had been a strong year for cinema, if not a cheerful one, with nominated films tackling themes including child death, racism and political violence:
“Watching the films this year was like taking part in a collective nervous breakdown,” he said. “It’s almost as though there are events going on in the real world that are influencing filmmakers.”
The ceremony was more glitz than gloom, though, including a performance by Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami — the voices of animated band HUNTR/X in box office juggernaut “KPop Demon Hunters” — singing the movie hit “Golden.”
Putin critic wins best documentary
The best-documentary prize went to “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” about a Russian teacher who documented the propaganda imposed on Russian schools after the invasion of Ukraine.
The film's American director David Borenstein said that teacher Pavel Talankin had shown that “whether it’s in Russia or the streets of Minneapolis, we always face a moral choice," referring to the protests against U.S. immigration enforcement in Minnesota.
“We need more Mr. Nobodies,” he said.
It beat documentaries including Mstyslav Chernov's harrowing Ukraine war portrait "2000 Meters to Andriivka, " co-produced by The Associated Press and Frontline PBS.
Most BAFTA winners are chosen by 8,500 members of the U.K. academy of industry professionals. The Rising Star award, which is decided by public vote, went to Aramayo.
Donna Langley, the U.K.-born chairwoman of NBCUniversal Entertainment, was awarded the British Academy’s highest honor, the BAFTA fellowship.
The ceremony airs on E! in the U.S. at 8 p.m. EST.
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Associated Press writer Hilary Fox contributed to this report.
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