Revisionist German war drama All Quiet on the Western Front and British film Banshees of Inisherin dominated the 76th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) on Sunday, winning a combined eleven awards.
All Quiet on the Western Front, which was distributed by Netflix, won seven awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Edward Berger. It also took home awards for best non-English film, cinematography, adapted screenplay, original score, and best sound. The film is an adaptation of the 1929 novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque who served on the German side of World War I.
The seven awards broke the record for a non-English film at the BAFTAs, with 2001’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon previously holding the same title with four wins. All Quiet on the Western Front also tied the record for most nominations with 14.
The haul will give the film a big boost going into next month’s Oscars, where it is up for nine awards.
The Banshees of Inisherin, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, won four awards: outstanding British film, best original screenplay, best supporting actor for Barry Keoghan, and best supporting actress for Kerry Condon. The dark comedy focuses on the falling out of two friends in a remote Irish village in the 1920s.
Some awkward fallout occurred when the announcement for best supporting actress was announced. The previous year’s winner of best supporting actor, Troy Kotsur, who is deaf, signed the winner but the interpreter misread it as Carey Mulligan, who was nominated for She Said, a drama focused on the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations. While the error was quickly corrected, Mulligan had already left her seat and was walking towards the stage. The mistake was edited out of the television broadcast.
Outside of that minor 'mulligan', the awards lacked the dramatics of other recent award shows, something the host of the event pointed out. “Nobody on my watch gets slapped tonight,” host Richard E. Grant said, referring to Will Smith slapping presenter Chris Rock at last March’s Oscars. “Well, only on the back,” he joked.
The newly crowned Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince William and Kate Middleton, also attended the event and walked the red carpet for the first time since being bestowed the title by William’s father, King Charles III. The couple gave some fodder to the paparazzi when Middleton was captured on video gently slapping her husband on his behind.