‘Gravity’ Dominates British Film Awards

16 Feb, 2014

“Gravity”, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, took home six prizes from its 11 nominations, including the Best Director prize for Mexican Alfonso Cuaron and the awards for Cinematography and Outstanding British Film.

The harrowing drama “12 Years a Slave” won the Best Film award at Britain’s top movie honors on Sunday, cementing its status as favorite for the Oscars next month, but it was the space thriller “Gravity” that claimed the biggest trophy haul.

“12 Years a Slave”, by British director Steve McQueen with Hollywood’s Brad Pitt as a producer, had been tipped as the night’s major winner and also won Best Actor for Chiwetel Ejiofor as a man tricked and sold into slavery in the pre-Civil War United States.

McQueen, 44, said it was horrifying that 21 million people were still living in slavery around the world now.

“I hope that, 150 years from now, our ambivalence will not allow another filmmaker to make this film,” he told the ceremony at London’s Royal Opera House.

McQueen, a video artist as well as a director, previously won kudos for his 2008 film “Hunger”, about an IRA hunger strike in Northern Ireland, and won Britain’s top visual art award, the Turner Prize, in 1999 for a video based on a Buster Keaton film.

On the red carpet ahead of the ceremony, the most watched film awards outside the United States, stars including Leonardo DiCaprio, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks and Britons Judi Dench and Emma Thompson mingled with fans.

Britain’s Prince William arrived last, chatting to the crowd gathered outside the theatre on a cold, dry evening before heading inside to present an Academy Fellowship for outstanding contribution to film to the British actress Helen Mirren.

Mirren, 68, won an Oscar for playing his grandmother Queen Elizabeth in the 2006 film “The Queen”.

Vying for the Best Actor prize alongside Ejiofor were Christian Bale in “American Hustle”, Bruce Dern in “Nebraska”, DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese’s tale of American greed “The Wolf of Wall Street”, and Tom Hanks in “Captain Phillips”.

The Best Actress award went to Australian Cate Blanchett for playing a riches-to-rags socialite in Woody Allen’s tragicomedy “Blue Jasmine”. She beat Dench, Amy Adams from “American Hustle”, Emma Thompson in “Saving Mr. Banks” and Bullock in “Gravity”.

Blanchett, 44, dedicated her award to the actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died of an apparent drugs overdose two weeks ago.

Barkhad Abdi was named Best Supporting Actor for his role in “Captain Phillips” and the award for Best Supporting Actress went to Jennifer Lawrence in “American Hustle”, a con-artist caper set in the 1970s.

The Italian movie “The Great Beauty” won the award for Film Not in the English Language, while the documentary prize went to “The Act of Killing” by Joshua Oppenheimer.

Winners of the 2014 British Academy Film Awards, presented Sunday:

Film – “12 Years a Slave”

British Film – “Gravity”

Director – Alfonso Cuaron, “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”

Rising Star – Will Poulter

British Debut – Writer-director Kieran Evans, “Kelly + Victor”

Original Screenplay – Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell, “American Hustle”

Adapted Screenplay – Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, “Philomena”

Film Not in the English Language – “The Great Beauty”

Music – “Gravity”

Cinematography – “Gravity”

Editing – “Rush”

Production Design – “The Great Gatsby”

Costume Design – “The Great Gatsby”

Sound – “Gravity”

Visual Effects – “Gravity”

Makeup and Hair – “American Hustle”

Animated Feature – “Frozen”

Short Film – “Room 8”

Short Animation – “Sleeping With the Fishes”

Documentary – “The Act of Killing”

Outstanding Contribution to British Cinema – Peter Greenaway

Academy Fellowship – Helen Mirren

Reuters

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