Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/LONDON: A heartbreaking German war film and a pitch-black Irish comedy were the big winners as British cinema handed out its annual BAFTA awards on Sunday, with the Oscars less than a month away.
With 14 nominations, German director Edward Berger’s “All Quiet on the Western Front” began the night as the BAFTA academy’s most-nominated foreign-language film in its 76-year history. In the build-up to the Academy Awards on March 12, the Netflix drama won seven awards, including best film and best director for Berger, as well as original score and cinematography.
Berger credited his daughter Matilda for changing his “doubts into trust” after she told him he had to make a film based on Erich Maria Remarque’s powerful 1929 novel, which she was reading at the time. Producer Malte Grunert described the British accolades for a German-language film, a recipient of nine Oscar nominations, as “just incredible”.
With a nod to modern-day conflicts, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he said that the novel and film showed that “war is anything but an adventure.” The German film tied with Ang Lee’s martial arts drama “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” which also starred Michelle Yeoh and received 14 BAFTA nominations in 2001. This year, Yeoh was nominated for best actress for her role as a worn-down laundromat owner who transforms into a high-kicking herione in “Everything Everywhere All At Once”.
Yeoh’s kung-fu science-fiction film was nominated for ten BAFTAs but only won one for editing. She was beaten out by Cate Blanchett for her portrayal of a troubled classical music conductor in “Tar”.
The Australian actress, who was convinced that one of her fellow nominees would win, said that this was extraordinary. I didn’t prepare anything to say because this year has been extraordinary for women.
‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ wins four awards
The Irish tragicomedy “The Banshees of Inisherin,” co-starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, with ten nominations won four awards, including best-supporting actor Barry Keoghan and best-supporting actress Kerry Condon, who was initially denied the award due to a stage miscommunication. Despite the heavily Irish profile of “Banshees,” director Martin McDonagh won “best British film” and best original screenplay. He said making a sad film should not be so much fun.
Two years ago, BAFTA gave British actor and producer Noel Clarke a lifetime achievement award, only for a series of sexual misconduct allegations to emerge against him. BAFTA was also chastised for ignoring women. Only Gina Prince-Bythewood, for “The Woman King,” was nominated for best director. That was one more than the Academy Awards received in that category this year.
Many attendees wore blue ribbons on their suits and gowns in support of refugees, including Berger, Farrell, Blanchett, and Jamie Lee Curtis. The gesture came as more people were displaced by earthquakes in Turkey and Syria and as the Russia-Ukraine conflict approaches its one-year anniversary.
