The 75th British Academy Film Awards ceremony took place this evening, March 13, revealing this year’s winners.
The 75th British Academy Film Awards ceremony took place this evening, March 13, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, U.K. The ceremony was presented this year by Australian actress and comedian Rebel Wilson, and marks the first return for the BAFTAs to a full-capacity in-person ceremony, after last year’s strict Covid-19 restrictions. Denis Villeneuve’s Dune leads the nominations with a total of 11, followed closely by Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog with 8, and Sir Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast, which has a total of 6 nominations. The ceremony opened with a special sequence to all the past James Bond movies to celebrate the 60 years of the franchise, and proceeded with a special live performance of Diamond Are Forever from Dame Shirley Bassey. Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog won the coveted prize for Best Film, which was presented by Tom Hiddleston. Campion also won the award for Best Director. The award was accepted by Benedict Cumberbatch, who was nominated for Best Leading Actor, as Campion is in Los Angeles having attended the Directors Guild America awards the previous night. The film, based on Thomas Savage’s novel, and which is available to stream on Netflix, thus won the top two prizes of the evening. British actress Joanna Scanlan won the Best Leading Actress award for her outstanding role in After Love, directed by Aleem Khan. Scanlan plays a widow who discovers her late husband lead a secret double life, with another wife and son. Nominated in the same category was Lady Gaga, Alana Haim, Emilia Jones, Renate Reinsve and Tessa Thompson. The award for Best Leading Actor was presented by Salma Hayek, who revealed that Will Smith won the award for his role as Richard Williams in King Richard. Will Smith could not be present but Ronaldo Marcus Green accepted the award on his behalf, saying that King Richard was a personal film for Smith. Will Smith won against Adeel Akhtar, Mahershala Ali, Benedict Cumberbatch, Leonardo DiCaprio and Stephen Graham.
