The 2019 BAFTA Awards
At the 72nd British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, Olivia Colman's performance as the unstable, self-pitying and hilariously bad-mannered Queen Anne in 'The Favourite' won her the Best Actress award – one of the seven awards bagged by film.
The film was easily the biggest winner at the glitzy ceremony, picking up prizes including Best British Film, Best Production Design, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Costume Design. However, The Favourite lost out to the widely lauded tear-jerker Roma in the Best Film category. Roma's director Alfonso Cuarón was named Best Director, beating Yorgos Lanthimos, Spike Lee, Bradley Cooper and Paweł Pawlikowski. Roma also won Best Cinematography (by Cuarón himself) and Best Film Not in the English Language.
On the other hand, Bohemian Rhapsody won two awards, including Best Actor for Rami Malek's remarkable portrayal of Freddie Mercury. “This is totally extraordinary,” he said. “Thank you for this generous gift.”
Other awards included Best Original Music for A Star Is Born, and Outstanding British Debut for the filmmakers of Beast. The only award voted for by the public, the BAFTA Rising Star Award, went to Letitia Wright, the Guyanese-born British star of Black Panther.
The evening's highest honour, the BAFTA Fellowship, was presented to film editor Thelma Schoonmaker, a three-time Oscar winner and one of Martin Scorsese's closest collaborators, who has worked on 22 of his features.