Last night (Sun 22nd Feb) Jonathan Ross presented the 2010 Orange BAFTA award ceremony, which took place in London’s Royal Opera House, in order to honour the best films of the past twelve months, and by the end it was more than clear which film from the past year was the BAFTA panel’s favourite.
The Hurt Locker managed to bag an impressive six awards (out of a possible eight that it was originally nominated for), three for technical aspects (Sound, Editing and Cinematography), as well as Best Original Screenplay (beating Disney’s Up, The Hangover and Tarrantino’s Inglorious Basterds), Best Director (awarded to Kathryn Bigelow) and the most prestigious award of the ceremony, Best Film.
Surprisingly Avatar only collected a mere two awards (also out of a possible eight), for Production Design, and Special Visual Effects, despite being the clear favourite in the majority of categories. Often beaten to the post by The Hurt Locker it was also nominated for Sound, Editing and Cinematography, as well as Music, and the prestigious Best Director and Best Film awards (losses that probably didn’t please James Cameron, who was most likely all but certain of a big win before entering the theatre).
Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress went to Christoph Waltz (for his role as Colonel Hans Landa in Quentin Tarrantino’s Inglorious Basterds) and Mo’Nique (for her role as Mary in Precious) respectively, but it was the Brit’s who claimed the prizes for Leading Actor (Colin Firth, A Single Man) and Leading Actress (Carey Mulligan, An Education) alike.
Other noteworthy wins include Outstanding Debut, awarded to a very emotional Duncan Jones (Moon), Best Adapted Screenplay, which went to Up In The Air, Best Animated Film, awarded to Disney/Pixar’s Up (which also bagged a well deserved win in the Music category), Outstanding British Film, awarded to Fish Tank, and The Orange Rising Star Award (the only award voted for by the public) which went to Kristen Stewart (Twilight). There was also the BAFTA Fellowship Award, which was awarded to Vanessa Redgrave, and introduced by the new and incoming BAFTA President, Prince William (who actually looked rather bored for the majority of the ceremony).
The full list of winners, as well as red carpet highlights, interviews, features and list of nominees can be found on the BAFTA website at http://www.bafta.org/awards/film/
