Silent movie The Artist had a night to shout about on Sunday, winning seven prizes including best picture at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards.
The UK’s equivalent of the Academy Awards rewarded the French homage to old Hollywood over a homegrown favorite, espionage thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
The Artist, a black-and-white picture that has charmed audiences around the world since its Cannes debut in May last year, was named best film, and its rubber-limbed star Jean Dujardin took the male acting prize. Its filmmaker, Michel Hazanavicius, won prizes for directing and his original screenplay.
Dujardin said it was “incroyable” — incredible — to win a prize in the homeland of acting titan Laurence Olivier, William Webb Ellis — the inventor of rugby — “and Benny Hill.”
Hazanavicius thanked presenter Brad Pitt for pronouncing his name correctly — and academy voters for recognizing that his silent film even had a screenplay.
“So many people thought there was no script because there was no dialogue,” he said.
Another homage to early cinema, Martin Scorsese’s Parisian fantasy Hugo, took prizes for sound and production design.
John le Carre adaptation Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy went into the ceremony with 11 nominations compared with 12 for The Artist, but won just two prizes, for British film and for adapted screenplay.
Writer Peter Straughan dedicated the screenplay award to his wife and co-writer Bridget O’Connor, who died of cancer before the film was completed.
“She wrote all the good bits and I made this coffee,” Straughan said. “So, Bridget — I love you, I miss you. This is for you.”
The British prizes, known as BAFTAs, are considered a strong indicator of likely success at Hollywood’s Academy Awards, to be held on Feb. 26.
The trophies give more momentum to The Artist, which has already won three Golden Globes and has 10 Academy Award nominations.
Dujardin, who plays a silent screen icon eclipsed by the talkies, said the appeal of The Artist lay in its accessibility.
“It’s a simple story,” he said. “It’s a love story. It’s universal. And there’s a cute dog” — Jack Russell terrier Uggie, who almost steals the film from his two-legged co-stars.
The Artist also won prizes for cinematography, costume design and for Ludovic Bource’s sprightly musical score.
As predicted, Meryl Streep was named best actress for her depiction of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. The film also won a well-deserved prize for hair and makeup.
The supporting actor prize went to Christopher Plummer, as an academic who makes a new start late in life in Beginners. Octavia Spencer was named best supporting actress for her turn as a fiery maid in Deep South drama The Help.
Senna, a portrait of the short, sensational life of race car driver Ayrton Senna, was named best documentary and also won the editing prize.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese