THE 2008 BAFTA RESULTS

The Royal Opera House in London played host to the 2008 Bafta awards last night, attracting top actors, directors and all-round movie folks to this plush setting in the Covent Garden area of our capital city. And the winners are:

BEST FILM: Atonement
* BEST BRITISH FILM: This is England
* DIRECTOR: Joel Coen/Ethan Coen – No Country For Old Men
* LEADING ACTOR: Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood
* LEADING ACTRESS: Marion Cotillard – La Vie en Rose
* SUPPORTING ACTOR: Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
* SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton
* FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE - The Lives of Others
* ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Juno – Diablo Cody
* ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Ronald Harwood – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
* ANIMATED FILM: Ratatouille
* MUSIC: Christopher Gunning – La Vie en Rose
* CINEMATOGRAPHY: Roger Deakins – No Country For Old Men
* EDITING: Christopher Rouse – The Bourne Ultimatum
* PRODUCTION DESIGN: Sarah Greenwood/Katie Spencer – Atonement
* COSTUME DESIGN: Marit Allen – La Vie en Rose
* SOUND: Kirk Francis/Scott Millan/David Parker/Karen Baker Landers/Per Hallberg – The Bourne Ultimatum
* SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS: Michael Fink/Bill Westenhofer/Ben Morris/Trevor Wood – The Golden Compass
* MAKE UP & HAIR: Jan Archibald/Didier Lavergne – la Vie en Rose
* SHORT ANIMATION : The Pearce Sisters
* SHORT FILM: Dog Altogether
* THE ORANGE RISING STAR AWARD: Shia Laboeuf (voted for by the public)
* ACADEMY FELLOWSHIP: Sir Anthony Hopkins
* THE CARL FOREMAN AWARD for special achievement by a British director, writer or producer for their first feature film: Matt Greenhalgh (Writer) – Control

So, we have 4 awards for La Vie en Rose, the wonderful Daniel Day-Lewis scooping the leading actor award, the Coen's honoured for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, and Sir Anthony Hopkins getting an Academy Fellowship. The award for Best British Film was interesting, with Shane Meadows beating off some stiff opposition with THIS IS ENGLAND. While I don't feel this is Shane's best work, it's good to see him in the limelight. For me, one of the most poignant moments was to see Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck take the award for THE LIVES OF OTHERS and dedicate it to his leading actor Ulrich Muhe, whose widow was in the audience. Ulrich's tragic death may have cast a shadow over the evening, but his magnificent performance will live on in this truly extraordinary film.

The BAFTA results will perhaps give us a few pointers regarding possible winners at the forthcoming Academy Awards, where the spoils will probably be shared out with no one film dominating. For those who put their money on Julie Christie bagging Best Actress.... well, last nights events show that maybe it's not cut and dried after all.