2011 BAFTA Winners

Was waiting to watch ceremony at official site, but it's not there yet. Have to admit that it was surprising to find that show broadcast was not live and was delayed until show was over. Don't really understand why and in my head I'm making a lot of stories that go from the not-probable to the surely-probable. Hope delaying awards shows does not become a trend that spreads worldwide as definitively is more exciting to watch show live than learning winners by reading them at Academy site, Twitter and/or Facebook. Still had fun reading tweets with very funny comments from those that I follow in Twitter.

If you read my tweets you already know that I had two surprises, first in the non-English category where The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo won and second True Grit winning cinematography. Both are positive surprises as Millennium Trilogy films truly deserve more recognition and more honors as films are very entertaining with outstanding performance by Noomi Rapace who created an unforgettable and iconic character that I'm sure will stand the test of time. Not that I believe that the specific film is better than the other nominees, but I'm really glad that the first original film (before awful American remakes are released) got to be honored with a well-deserved accolade. Same goes to True Grit that hope will get more well-deserved honors at Oscar, especially for the young actress that stole the film.

Don't believe that BAFTA winners made easier to guess/predict Oscar winners. No, I think that made process harder whilst more interesting for several categories. But there is one category that suddenly became very clear for me: Best Actress. Seems that critics where divided between Annette Bening and Natalie Portman BUT industry peers are not as honors go to Portman. I like Bening performance but I don't like the film that doesn't deserve any kind of free publicity and promotion; so, seems that who I wish will win and who will surely win are becoming one and the same. Great!

With BAFTA's winners we know will concentrate in the Oscar guessing game, but remember that on February 25th we will learn about French cinema Cesar Awards and current awards season will be almost over then.

Winners are in *BLUE and to check all categories go here.

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As it happens I'm posting winners with an asterisk. When show is over will fix post.

Up to this minute my biggest and most positive surprise is that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo won!!! Great!!!

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1/18/11
Was not able to watch the live announcement but just for fun saw the recording and if you feel like watching please go here. Nominations tend to look the same as what is happening in America, but there are some very pleasant surprises that maybe will open the eyes of the American Academy voters.

As we know 2011 awards celebrate films that were released in 2010 and these nominees are the result of Round Two voting.

Best Film
Black Swan
Inception
*The King’s Speech
The Social Network
True Grit

Outstanding British Film
127 Hours
Another Year
Four Lions
*The King’s Speech
Made in Dagenham

Animated Film
Despicable Me
How To Train Your Dragon
*Toy Story 3

Film Not in The English Language
Biutiful
*The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
I Am Love
Of Gods and Men
The Secret in Their Eyes

Director
Danny Boyle for 127 Hours
Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan
Christopher Nolan for Inception
Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech
*David Fincher for The Social Network

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer
The Arbor, Director and Producer – Clio Barnad and Tracy O’Riordan
Exit Through The Gift Shop, Director and Producer – Bansky and Jaimie D’Cruz
*Four Lions, Director/Writer Chris Morris
Monsters, Director/Writer Gareth Edwards
Skeletons, Director/Writer Nick Whitfield

Leading Actress
Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right
Julianne Moore in The Kids Are All Right
*Natalie Portman in Black Swan
Noomi Rapace in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit

Supporting Actress
Amy Adams in The Fighter
*Helena Bonham Carter in The King’s Speech
Barbara Hershey in Black Swan
Lesley Manville in Another Year
Miranda Richardson in Made in Dagenham

Leading Actor
Javier Bardem in Biutiful
Jeff Bridges in True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network
*Colin Firth in The King’s Speech
James Franco in 127 Hours

Supporting Actor
Christian Bale in The Fighter
Andrew Garfield in The Social Network
Pete Postlethwaite in The Town
Mark Ruffalo in The Kids Are All Right
*Geoffrey Rush in The King’s Speech

Cinematography
127 Hours
Black Swan
Inception
The King’s Speech
*True Grit

Original Screenplay
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
*The King’s Speech

Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
*The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit

Original Music
127 Hours
Alice in Wonderland
Inception
*The King’s Speech

Editing
127 Hours
Black Swan
Inception
The King’s Speech
*The Social Network

Production Design
Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
*Inception
The King’s Speech
True Grit

Costume Design
*Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
The King’s Speech
Made in Dagenham
True Grit

Sound
127 Hours
Black Swan
*Inception
The King’s Speech
True Grit

Special Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
*Inception
Toy Story 3

Make Up & Hair
*Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
The King’s Speech
Made in Dagenham

To learn nominees in the short film categories as well as nominees names in each of the above categories go here. Awards ceremony will be on Sunday, February 13 with Red Carpet broadcast live on BBC3 followed with the ceremony on BBC1.

In general I do feel that these nominations could be very similar to what the American Academy will announce in exactly one week; but can’t deny that I’m pleased with the nominations that famous Swedish film got, especially Noomi Rapace nod for best actress.

As expected from the long list The King’s Speech leads with 14 nominations followed by Black Swan with 12. The ranking continues with Inception with 9, 127 Hours and True Grit with 8 each, and The Social Network with 6.

Somehow I know that guessing winners this year will not be hard as outstanding The King’s Speech will win more awards than the predictable and extremely well-deserved Colin Firth’s award in the Best Actor category. Besides I find Geoffrey Rush performance is remarkable and as good as Firth’s, obviously Rush role is a lead, but to increase winning chances is nominated as a support role. The King’s Speech is an extraordinary movie that deserves all the honors that has already got and will get in this awards season.

Contrary to what happened in the Golden Globes I believe that Biutiful has better opportunities to win the non-English film category as Javier Bardem got a nomination in the Best Actor category, still the presence of the Argentinean film in this year competition and Xavier Beauvois’s top honored film makes category more interesting and less predictable.

Later on will make my predictions and will dare to go beyond the basic categories as by now I have seen almost all the honored films and will make an effort to watch 127 Hours that I have been delaying until I’m in the correct mood to not faint when the famous scene happens; same with Another Year about another dysfunctional family with intense performances by lead actors.