BAFTA 2013 – WINNERS

THERE GOES ARGO
Here’s a turn-up for the books, as the Brits might say, with Argo winning the Best Film BAFTA, when it was the Brits who complained about the film depicting their Embassy in an unflattering and apparently untrue light when it is shown to turn away the US Embassy staff seeking refuge from the Tehran mob...

Ben Affleck’s achievement is considerable, given the competition; but that’s the same in most categories, each brimming with outstanding cinematic work. The Brits are rightly celebrating Skyfall’s success, and it is reassuring to see the Brit Academy recognise the exceptional work that is The Imposter (opens in Melbourne Feb 21, and Feb 28 elsewhere in Australia).

Given the awkwardness of comparing movies that are not comparable (eg Life of Pi & Lincoln & Django Unchained & Anna Karenina …just for starters) the BAFTAs have spread the gongs around with admirable taste.

BEST FILM 
ARGO Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, George Clooney WINNER
LES MISÉRABLES Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh
LIFE OF PI Gil Netter, Ang Lee, David Womark
LINCOLN Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy
ZERO DARK THIRTY Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow, Megan Ellison

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM 
SKYFALL Sam Mendes, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan WINNER
ANNA KARENINA Joe Wright, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Webster, Tom Stoppard
THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL John Madden, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Ol Parker
LES MISÉRABLES Tom Hooper, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh, 
William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer
SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS Martin McDonagh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER 
BART LAYTON (Director), DIMITRI DOGANIS (Producer) The Imposter WINNER
DAVID MORRIS (Director), JACQUI MORRIS (Director/Producer) McCullin 
DEXTER FLETCHER (Director/Writer), DANNY KING (Writer) Wild Bill
JAMES BOBIN (Director) The Muppets 
TINA GHARAVI (Director/Writer) I Am Nasrine 

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 
AMOUR Michael Haneke, Margaret Ménégoz WINNER
HEADHUNTERS Morten Tyldum, Marianne Gray, Asle Vatn
THE HUNT Thomas Vinterberg, Sisse Graum Jørgensen, Morten Kaufmann 
RUST AND BONE Jacques Audiard, Pascal Caucheteux
UNTOUCHABLE Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache, Nicolas Duval Adassovsky, Yann Zenou, Laurent Zeitoun

DOCUMENTARY 
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn - WINNER
THE IMPOSTER Bart Layton, Dimitri Doganis
MARLEY Kevin Macdonald, Steve Bing, Charles Steel
McCULLIN David Morris, Jacqui Morris
WEST OF MEMPHIS Amy Berg