’12 Years a Slave’ Wins the Top Prize at the BAFTA Awards

We’re nearly the home stretch in this seemingly very long awards season as the British Academy of Film & Televison Awards took place this past weekend, marking the last major stop on the awards tour before the Oscar statues are handed out on March 2nd.  The BAFTAs crowned Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave it’s best in show for the 2013 calendar year; however, it was Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity that netted the most prizes of the evening, topping the charts with six awards including one for its director, a slew of behind-the-line technical prizes and most controversially perhaps, the prize for Best British Film.  The question that rises now is the race for the Best Picture Oscar and what sort of last minute influence the BAFTA awards may have over the race itself– final voting for the Academy Awards opened up on February 14th and concludes on February 25th.Other highlights of the evening included surprise acting wins for 12 Years a Slave‘s Chiwetel Ejiofor, netting the only other win for the slavery drama, and Captain Phillips‘ Barkhad Abdi. Both races might be a bit skewed, however, since Oscar frontrunners Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto from Dallas Buyers Club were not included on the BAFTA line-up.  American Hustle‘s Jennifer Lawrence won the Supporting Actress prize in one of three victories the David O. Russell con game pic grabbed, and heavy Oscar favorite Cate Blanchett, herself a target in recent weeks in the wakes of renewed interest in the 20+ year Woody Allen molestation case, won for her leading work in the director’s Blue Jasmine.  Blanchett, who curiously didn’t make mention at all of Allen in her speech, dedicated her statue to the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Full list of winners below:

• PICTURE: 12 Years a Slave
• OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM: Gravity
• DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
• ACTOR: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
• ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
• SUPPORTING ACTOR: Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
• SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
• ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: American Hustle– Eric Warren Singer & David O. Russell
• ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Philomena– Steve Coogan & Jeff Pope
• ANIMATED FEATURE: Frozen
• DOCUMENTARY: The Act of Killing
• FOREIGN FILM: The Great Beauty
• CINEMATOGRAPHY: Gravity– Emmanuel Lubezki
• COSTUME DESIGN: The Great Gatsby– Catherine Martin
• PRODUCTION DESIGN: The Great Gatsby– Catherine Martin & Beverley Dunn
• FILM EDITING: Rush– Dan Hanley & Mike Hill
• MUSIC: Gravity– Steven Price
• MAKE-UP AND HAIR: American Hustle
• SOUND: Gravity
• SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS: Gravity
• ANIMATED SHORT FILM:
• SHORT FILM: Room 8
• OUTSTANDING BRITISH DEBUT BY A WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER: Keiran Evans, Kelly + Victor
• EE RISING STAR IN 2014: Will Poulter
• FILM FELLOWSHIP AWARD: Helen Mirren
• OUTSTANDING BRITISH CONTRIBUTION TO FILM: Peter Greenaway