BAFTA Award Winners

Early awards seem to hint towards a sweep of the BAFTA's by the home grown film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and it seemed Best Picture and Best Actor (Gary Oldman) would follow but then suddenly The Artist cleaned up as Michel Hazanavicius and Jean Dujardin took home the awards. The Artist was a bold project that captured the film world's hearts and has a great chance of further success at the Oscar's in a fortnight. The only complaint would be that nobody thanked Uggie the dog especially since it's his last ever film. This domination meant that George Clooney and the Descendants went home empty handed which was a small surprise.

 Best Actress was taken by Meryl Streep (minus one shoe that got left on the stairs as she walked up to collect the award) for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in the Iron Lady and was an expected result, she was very good in the film but it was telling that the film wasn't acknowledged elsewhere aside from a nod to Jim Broadbent. The Help was also well nominated elsewhere but only Octavia Spencer won an award for best supporting actress. Moneyball where Jonah Hill and Brad Pitt star actually left with nothing but it was always going to be difficult for a film about Baseball which isn't popular in Britain to win an award.

I was delighted to see Senna win Best Editing and Best Documentary as it is truly a great film that even people who don't like Formula One would love, if you haven't seen it then I highly recommend it! The one shame for me is that Jeff Croneweth didn't win Best Cinematography for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as the setting for Hedeby Island is brilliantly accurate compared to the book, that is the only award I wouldn't agree with The Artist winning.

Stephen Fry was very good as the host and was charmingly assured but the best presenters of an award had to be Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe when they presented the Best Picture award. The jokes about being stereotypical Aussies was very funny and got the most laughs.

The award winners are below:

Picture

The Artist

Actor

Jean Dujardin - The Artist

Actress

Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady

Director

Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist

Supporting actress

Octavia Spencer - The Help

Supporting actor

Christopher Plummer - Beginners

Animated film

Rango

Documentary

Senna

Outstanding British film

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Film not in the English language

The Skin I Live In

Outstanding debut

Tyrannosaur

Adapted screenplay

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan

Original screenplay

The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius

Production design

Hugo - Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo

Cinematography

The Artist - Guillaume Schiffman

Makeup and hair

The Iron Lady - Mark Coulier, J. Roy Helland, Marese Langan

Costume design

The Artist - Mark Bridges

Editing

Senna - Gregers Sall and Chris King

Sound

Hugo - Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman, John Midgley

Original score

The Artist - Ludovic Bource

Rising star award

Adam Deacon

Academy fellowship

Martin Scorsese

Outstanding contribution to British cinema

John Hurt

Special visual effects

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 - Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler and David Vickery

Short animation

A Morning Stroll - Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe

Short film

Pitch Black Heist - John Maclean and Geraldine O'Flynn