BAFTA Film Awards 2024: ‘Oppenheimer’ dominance continues with 7 trophies

Following its splendid performance at both the Golden Globe Awards and the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, Christopher Nolan’s epic biographical thriller ‘Oppenheimer’ marked its dominance at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Film Awards too, bagging seven trophies, including ‘Best Film’ and ‘Director’. ‘Oppenheimer’ entered the BAFTA race with a total of 13 nominations and bagged awards in technical categories such as ‘Cinematography’ and ‘Editing’ too.

The highly anticipated event, hosted at London’s Royal Festival Hall early on Monday morning, also drew significant attention from Indian audiences as Bollywood star Deepika Padukone took the stage to present an award.

Amid enthusiastic applause, Deepika, elegantly dressed in a shimmering gold saree with her hair tied up, presented the award for the ‘Film Not in the English Language’ category, which was won by Jonathan Glazer’s Polish historical drama ‘The Zone of Interest’.

While introducing the films that had been nominated in the category, Deepika remarked, “The incredible stories nominated in this category depict real and imagined worlds that stay with us long after the credits roll. From the Alps to the Andes, South Poland to Seoul and Ukraine…”

Yorgos Lanthimos’ ‘Poor Things’, the second most-nominated film that earned 11 nods, returned with five BAFTAs. However, much to the disappointment of fans, Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ and Martin Scorsese’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ left empty-handed, failing to win in any category. While Cillian Murphy bagged the BAFTA for ‘Leading Actor’ for ‘Oppenheimer’, Emma Stone emerged victorious in the ‘Leading Actress’ category for ‘Poor Things’.

Fans of the late actor Matthew Perry expressed their disappointment after he wasn’t included in the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards ‘In Memoriam’ segment. Due to this, BAFTA faced backlash on social media. After Matthew, who died in October last year at the age of 54, didn’t appear during the tribute, set to a special arrangement of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Time After Time’ performed by Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham, social media users were quick to criticise the decision, as per ‘People’.

Taking to ‘X’, people called out BAFTA for the perceived omission, which one dubbed ‘bad form’ alongside a GIF of Matthew’s ‘Friends’ character, Chandler Bing.

BAFTA responded to the social media backlash. Responding to Matthew’s absence from the tribute, a spokesperson for BAFTA told ‘People’, “I can confirm Matthew Perry will be remembered in our forthcoming BAFTA Television Awards.” On ‘X’, BAFTA echoed this statement, writing, “Matthew Perry will be remembered in this year’s TV Awards ceremony,” and shared the link to the academy’s online tribute to the actor, reported ‘People’.

Winners of BAFTA Film Awards 2024

Best Film: Oppenheimer

Best Director: Christopher Nolan

Leading Actress: Emma Stone

Leading Actor: Cillian Murphy

Supporting Actress: Da’Vine Joy Randolph

Supporting Actor: Robert Downey Jr

Original Screenplay: Anatomy of a Fall

Adapted Screenplay: American Fiction

Original Score: Oppenheimer

Casting: The Holdovers

Cinematography: Oppenheimer

Editing: Oppenheimer

Production Design: Poor Things

Costume Design: Poor Things

Make up & Hair: Poor Things

Sound: The Zone of Interest

Special Visual Effects: Poor Things

Outstanding British Film: The Zone of Interest

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer: Earth Mama

Film Not in the English Language: The Zone of Interest

Documentary: 20 Days in Mariupol

Animated Film: The Boy and the Heron

British Short Animation: Crab Day

British Short Film: Jellyfish and Lobster

EE Rising Star Award: Mia McKenna-Bruce