BAFTAs 2017: La La Land wins big, Ken Loach slams Tories
...but nothing for La La Land's closest Oscar best picture rival, Moonlight, which walked away empty handed
Each year the BAFTA awards feel less and less like a celebration of British cinema, and more and more like a rehearsal dinner for the Oscars, and so was the case with last night's ceremony. As expected, La La Land was the big winner, picking up five of the 11 awards it was nominated for, including best film, best director (for Damien Chazelle) and best actress (for Emma Stone). Manchester by the Sea made do with two wins, for best actor (Casey Affleck) and best original screenplay. Expect these particular results to go exactly the same way in a fortnight’s time at the Academy Awards.
La La Land didn't dominate, however. BAFTA voters spread their love out judiciously, with films like Jackie (best costume design), Arrival (best sound), Hacksaw Ridge (best editing) and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (best production design) all picking up awards in the technical areas. Among the major awards, however, surprises were few and far between.
There was one quirk of British bias in the best supporting actor category, with Dev Patel winning over hot Oscar fave Mahershala Ali. It was a bad night for Moonlight overall, with Barry Jenkins' moving coming-of-age story leaving the Albert Hall empty handed.
Political tone to speeches
As predictable as the winners were the speeches. While host Stephen Fry was doling out sycophantic superlatives, those handing out and receiving awards were giving the now obligatory nod to our dark and troubling political climate. There was nothing as brilliantly barnstorming as the epic anti-Trump rant Stranger Things’ David Harbour gave at the Screen Actors' Guild awards or Meryl Streep’s deeply moving speech at the Golden Globes, but there was a very British murmuring of political descent.
The one exception to this timidity was the brilliant Ken Loach, who can always be relied upon to use the awards podium as a platform for rabble-rousing. Picking up the award for outstanding British film for I, Daniel Blake, Loach took aim at the current Tory government and let rip.
“Thank you to the Academy for endorsing the truth of what the film says, and which hundreds of thousands of people in this country know, and that is that the most vulnerable and the poorest people are treated by this government with a callous brutality that is disgraceful,” said Loach.
“It’s a brutality that extends to keeping out refugee children that we have promised to help, and that is a disgrace too,” he added, referring to the Government’s quiet termination of the Dubs child refugee scheme, a pledge to take in 3000 unaccompanied child refugees.
Comedy genius Mel Brooks received the night's highest honour, the BAFTA fellowship, and ended the awards with a wry gag. Over the past few months we've all become accustomed to Americans apologising to the world on behalf of their new President, but Brooks went one better. "I want to apologise to the duke and the duchess (of Cambridge) and Prince Phillip... for the American Revolution. We were young."
The ceremony took place at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Sunday, 12 Feb. The full list of winners can be seen below (winners in bold):
Outstanding British film
I, Daniel Blake
American Honey
Denial
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Notes on Blindness
Under the Shadow
EE Rising Star award
Tom Holland
Anya Taylor-Joy
Laia Costa
Lucas Hedges
Ruth Negga
Best make up & hair
Florence Foster Jenkins
Doctor Strange
Hacksaw Ridge
Nocturnal Animals
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Best original music
La La Land
Arrival
Jackie
Lion
Nocturnal Animals
Best costume design
Jackie
Allied
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Florence Foster Jenkins
La La Land
Best sound
Arrival
Deepwater Horizon
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Best British short animation
A Love Story
The Alan Dimension
Tough
Best British short film
Home
Consumed
Mouth of Hell
The Party
Standby
Best editing
Hacksaw Ridge
Arrival
La La Land
Manchester by the Sea
Nocturnal Animals
Best production design
Doctor Strange
Hail, Caesar!
La La Land
Nocturnal Animals
Best documentary
13th
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years
The Eagle Huntress
Notes on Blindness
Weiner
Best film not in the English language
Son of Saul
Dheepan
Julieta
Mustang
Toni Erdmann
Best adapted screenplay
Lion
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
Hidden Figures
Nocturnal Animals
Best supporting actress
Viola Davis (Fences)
Hayley Squires (I, Daniel Blake)
Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)
Naomie Harris (Moonlight)
Nicole Kidman (Lion)
Best animated film
Kubo and the Two Strings
Finding Dory
Moana
Zootropolis
Best special visual effects
The Jungle Book
Arrival
Doctor Strange
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Best debut by a British writer, director or producer
Under the Shadow – Babak Anvari (writer/director), Emily Leo, Oliver Roskill, Lucan Toh (producers)
The Girl With All the Gifts – Mike Carey (writer), Camille Gatin (producer)
The Hard Stop – George Amponsah (writer/director/producer), Dionne Walker (writer/producer)
Notes on Blindness - Peter Middleton (writer/director/producer), James Spinney (writer/director), Jo-Jo Ellison (producer)
The Pass – John Donnelly (writer), Ben A Williams (director)
Best supporting actor
Dev Patel (Lion)
Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Nocturnal Animals)
Hugh Grant (Florence Foster Jenkins)
Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)
Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
Best original screenplay
Manchester by the Sea
Hell or High Water
I, Daniel Blake
La La Land
Moonlight
Best cinematography
La La Land
Arrival
Hell or High Water
Lion
Nocturnal Animals
Best actor
Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)
Jake Gyllenhaal (Nocturnal Animals)
Ryan Gosling (La La Land)
Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)
Best director
Damien Chazelle (La La Land)
Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)
Ken Loach (I, Daniel Blake)
Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester By the Sea)
Tom Ford (Nocturnal Animals)
Best actress
Emma Stone (La La Land)
Amy Adams (Arrival)
Emily Blunt (The Girl on the Train)
Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)
Natalie Portman (Jackie)
Best film
La La Land
Arrival
I, Daniel Blake
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
BAFTA fellowship
Mel Brooks