The BAFTAs 2022: List Of 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.

The Awards

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.

Summer of Soul won Best Documentary. Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson accepted the award and said that this film was a mission of love. This is Questlove’s outstanding debut feature documenting the Harlem Cultural Festival in the summer of 1969.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza won Best Original Screenplay. Jonny Greenwood, who composed the music for the film, accepted the award on Paul Thomas Anderson’s behalf. Alana Haim, the lead actress in Licorice Pizza, joined him on stage to help Greenwood with his awkward acceptance speech.

Coda won the Best Adapted Screenplay, which was received by screenwriter and director Siân Heder, based on the French film La Famille Bélier directed by Eric Lartigau and written by Victoria Bedos, Thomas Bidegain, Stanislas Carré de Malberg and Lartigau. Heder said she was an outsider to the deaf community and thanked them for trusting her for telling their story.

Sir Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast won the award for Oustanding British Film. Branagh thanked the public for watching his film in theaters. It is an autobiographical black and white film about The Troubles in Northern Ireland, starring Jamie Dornan and Caitriona Balfe. Aleem Khan’s After Love, Clio Barnard’s Ali & Ava, Joe Wright’s Cyrano, Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci, Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho, Rebecca Hall’s Passing, Jonathan Butterell’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, and Philip Barantini’s Boiling Point were all nominated for this category. The award was presented by Emma Watson.

Best Supporting Actor was given to Troy Kotsur for his groundbreaking role in Coda. In his acceptance speech, Kotsur said it was an honor for him to receive this BAFTA. He asked if they had considered a deaf James Bond. The film is available to stream on Apple TV+.

Léa Seydoux presented the award for Best Film Not in the English Language. The Japanese film, a festival favorite and critically-acclaimed, Drive my Car won the award. The film was directed by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, who dedicated the prize to Haruki Murakami who wrote the short story the film is based on and the film’s actors. Film goes beyond borders, Hamagushi said in his acceptance speech.

Ariana Debose won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Stephen Spielberg’s musical West Side Story. It was tough competition this year with Catriona Balfe, Jessie Buckley, Ann Dowd, Aunjanue Ellis and Ruth Negga also nominated for this category. Debose thanked the casting director of West Side Story.

Lashana Lynch, who starred in No Time to Die, won the EE Rising Star, presented by Lady Gaga and last year’s Rising Star winner Bukky Bakray. The award is voted for by the public. Lynch thanked everyone who voted and everyone involved in the James Bond film, as well as her family. Ariana Bose, Harris Dickinson, Millicent Simmonds and Kodi Smit-McPhee were all nominated for this award.

The Harder They Fall, directed by Jeymes Samuel received the award for Outstanding Debut. The film which was released on Netflix, with an incredible cast including Regina King, Idris Elba, LaKeith Stanfield and Zazie Beetz. The award was presented by Sir Kenneth Branagh.

RuPaul and Naomi Campbell presented the award for Cinematography, which was won by Greig Fraser for Dune. The Tragedy of Macbeth, No Time to Die, The Power of the Dog and Nightmare Alley were nominated for that category.

For the Best Visual Effects, actor Simon Pegg presented the award to the sci-fi adaptation of Dune. No Time to Die, Free Guy, The Matrix Resurrections and Ghostbusters: Afterlife were all nominated in that category.

Jenny Beavan for Disney’s Cruella received the award for Best Costume Design.

Although not shown during the ceremony, Encanto won Best Animated Film, Hans Zimmer won Best Original Score for Dune, Cindy Tolan won Best Casting for West Side Story, Tom Cross and Elliot Graham won Best Editing for No Time to Die, Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh won Best Make Up & Hair for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Patrice and Zsuzsanna Sipos won Best Production Design for Dune, and Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Doug Hemphill, Theo Green, Ron Bartlett won Best Sound for Dune.