‘Oppenheimer’ triumphs at BAFTA Film Awards

LONDON: “Oppenheimer”, a three-hour epic about the making of the atomic bomb during World War Two, was the big winner at the BAFTA Film Awards on Sunday, picking up seven prizes in total.

One of the highest-grossing movies of 2023, it won the night’s top prize - best film. It also picked up awards for leading actor Cillian Murphy, supporting actor Robert Downey Jr, editing, cinematography, original score and director for Christopher Nolan, his first such BAFTA Award.

“I have so many people to thank for this, an incredible cast... an incredible crew,” Nolan said in his acceptance speech.

Emma Stone picked up the leading actress award for sex-charged gothic comedy “Poor Things”, which won five prizes overall.

Da’Vine Joy Randolph won the supporting actress prize for her role in “The Holdovers”, a comedy set in a boys’ boarding school.

Courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Fall” won the first prize of the night, original screenplay.

“The Zone of Interest”, about the commandant of Auschwitz and his family living next to the Nazi death camp, won prizes for outstanding British film, the film not in the English language and sound.

Best documentary went to “20 Days in Mariupol”, journalist Mstyslav Chernov’s personal account of the siege of the Ukrainian city in 2022.

“This is not about us, this about Ukraine, about people of Mariupol... the day before yesterday another Ukrainian city has fallen... many cities before that,” Chernov said in his acceptance speech.

“So the story of Mariupol is a symbol of everything that happened, a symbol of struggle.”

As well as a spate of celebrities attending the ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall by the River Thames in central London, the guest list also includef BAFTA president Prince William.Known as the BAFTAs (British Academy of Film and Television Arts), the ceremony was hosted by actor David Tennant.