The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) recognized some of the year’s best films on Sunday. “Gladiator” was chosen best film, and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” took away best foreign-language film honors. Each of these Oscar contenders received four BAFTA awards in total.
Producers Douglas Wick, David Franzoni and Branko Lustig accepted the best film award for “Gladiator,” praising director Ridley Scott during their acceptance speech, who lost out on the best director prize to Ang Lee for “Tiger.”
Besides best foreign film and best director, “Crouching Tiger” also won for music (Tan Dun) and costume design (Tim Yip). Of BAFTA and the United Kingdom, Lee said: “You’ve always been great to me. This is like a second home to me now.”
“Gladiator” also won the Orange Audience Award for most popular film of 2000. Scott thanked DreamWorks and Universal for their courage in backing a $100 million film in a genre that hadn’t been touched for 30 years. “It is especially good to win this on my home turf as I spend so much time in the United States,” Scott said during his acceptance speech. “I am absolutely thrilled.”
Besides the BAFTA honor for best film, “Gladiator” also picked up awards for cinematography (John Mathieson), production design (Arthur Max) and editing (Pietro Scalia).
British effort “Billy Elliot” won three awards, including best British film, best actor (Jamie Bell) and best supporting actress for Julie Walters.
Julia Roberts was named best actress for her performance in the title role of “Erin Brockovich.” Presenter Hugh Grant, and co-star in “Notting Hill,” picked up the award for the absentee actress.
Best original screenplay and best sound awards went to Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous.” Crowe‘s wife, Nancy Wilson, accepted his award, saying that Crowe was unable to attend the event as a double ear infection prevented him from flying. “He meant this movie as a love letter from his heart to music,” Wilson said.
Steven Soderbergh‘s “Traffic” also won two awards, for adapted screenplay (Stephen Gaghan) and supporting actor (Benicio Del Toro).
Veteran casting director Mary Selway was given the Michael Balcon Award for her outstanding contribution to cinema. Actor Albert Finney was presented with a British Film Academy Fellowship for lifetime achievement, receiving a standing ovation.
The complete list of winners:
THE ACADEMY FELLOWSHIP: Albert Finney
THE MICHAEL BALCON AWARD for outstanding British Contribution to Cinema: Mary Selway
THE ALEXANDER KORDA AWARD for outstanding British Film of the Year: “Billy Elliot”
BEST FILM: “Gladiator”
THE DAVID LEAN AWARD for Achievement in Direction: Ang Lee, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”
SCREENPLAY (Original): Cameron Crowe, “Almost Famous”
SCREENPLAY (Adapted): Stephen Gaghan, “Traffic”
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS in a leading role: Julia Roberts, “Erin Brockovich”
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR in a leading role: Jamie Bell, “Billy Elliot”
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS in a supporting role: Julie Walters, “Billy Elliot”
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR in a supporting role: Benicio Del Toro, “Traffic”
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (Bill Hong/Hsu Li Kong/Ang Lee )
THE ANTHONY ASQUITH AWARD for achievement in Film Music: Tan Dun, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”
THE CARL FOREMAN AWARD for Most Promising Newcomer to British Film: Pawel Pawlikowski
CINEMATOGRAPHY: John Mathieson, “Gladiator”
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Arthur Max, “Gladiator”
COSTUME DESIGN: Tim Yip, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”
EDITING: Pietro Scalia, “Gladiator”
SOUND: Jeff Wexler/D.M. Hemphill/Rick Kline/Paul Massey/Mike Wilhoit, “Almost Famous”
ACHIEVEMENT IN SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS: Stefen Fangmeier/John Frazier/Walt Conti/Habib Zargarpour/Tim Alexander, “The Perfect Storm”
MAKE UP/HAIR: Rick Baker/Kazuhirop Tsuji/Tony G./Gal Ryan/Sylvia Nava, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”
SHORT FILM Gary Holding/Justine Leahy/Tinge Krishnan, “Shadowscan”
SHORT ANIMATION: Claire Jennings/Willem Thijssen/Michael Dudok de Wit, “Father and Daughter”
ORANGE AUDIENCE AWARD: “Gladiator”
