Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” has been named the best film of 2023 at the EE BAFTA Film Awards, which took place on Sunday in London. The film also won awards for director Nolan, actors Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. and its editing, cinematography and score, giving it seven wins to lead all films.
The film was the favorite going into the ceremony, where it led all films with 13 nominations, followed by Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” with 11. “Poor Things” won five awards, including Emma Stone’s victory in the Lead actress category.
The acting categories showcased most of the Oscar favorites for acting, with the notable exception of “Killers of the Flower Moon” actress Lily Gladstone, who was not nominated by voters from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Murphy’s Lead Actor win made him the first Irish acting winner at the BAFTA Awards.
The supporting acting awards went to performers who were prohibitive favorites going into the show, and who are expected to continue their winning streaks through the Oscars: Downey Jr. won the Supporting Actor award and Da’Vine Joy Randolph won the Supporting Actress prize for “The Holdovers.”
In the first award of the night, “Anatomy of a Fall” won for Best Original Screenplay. “American Fiction” won the adapted screenplay award in something of an upset over “Oppenheimer,” “Poor Things” and “The Zone of Interest.”
“The Zone of Interest” won three awards overall, including an unusual pair of categories: Jonathan Glazer’s dark German-language drama won the award for Best Film Not in the English Language, beating “Anatomy of a Fall, and was also named Outstanding British Film, a category that also included “Poor Things,” “Napoleon” and “Saltburn.”
Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” won the award for Best Animated Film less than 24 hours after its top competitor, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” dominated at the Annie Awards.
“20 Days in Mariupol” won in the Best Documentary category, where it was the only nominee to also have an Oscar nomination.
In the craft categories, “Oppenheimer” won for score, editing and cinematography, “The Zone of Interest” won for sound and Poor Things” won for production design, costume design, makeup and hairstyling and visual effects.
“The Holdovers” won the award for casting, a category that was added to the show in 2020.
The year’s biggest film at the box office, Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” was shut out completely despite coming into the show with five nominations. But even in the nominating round, BAFTA voters had not embraced the film the way Oscar voters did: Its nominations included Original Screenplay and Leading Actress for Margot Robbie, but it was left out of the film and director categories.
Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro” were similarly shut out, despite coming in with nine and seven nominations, respectively.
“How to Have Sex” star Mia McKenna-Bruce won the EE Rising Star Award, a category that is voted on by the public.
While the results will support the consensus that “Oppenheimer” is the clear frontrunner to win Best Picture at the Oscars on March 10, it’s worth nothing that over the first 76 years of BAFTA’s awards, fewer than one-third of its Best Film winners have also won the Oscar for Best Picture. While the two organizations agreed for six consecutive years between 2008 and 2013 (with “Slumdog Millionaire,” “The Hurt Locker,” “The King’s Speech,” “The Artist,” “Argo” and “12 Years a Slave”), they have only matched once since then, with “Nomadland” in 2020.
Last year, “All Quiet on the Western Front” won at BAFTA while “Everything Everywhere All at Once” won the Best Picture Oscar. In the 19 categories the two awards share, only seven BAFTA winners went on to win the Oscar.
Still, it’s hard to envision any of the rivals to “Oppenheimer” launching a last-minute surge before Oscar voting begins on Thursday. Its only sign of weakness at BAFTA came in the adapted screenplay category, where it lost to “American Fiction.” At BAFTA, though, it’s rare for Best Film winners to also take home screenplay awards.
Rare among major awards shows, BAFTA begins its television broadcast two hours after the show has begun, editing the show to a two-hour broadcast length while the ceremony is taking place. As a result, winners will be announced in the room (and on this page) before they are telecast.
The show took place at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall with David Tennant hosting. Actress Samantha Morton received the BAFTA Fellowship, while film curator, writer and programmer June Givanni received the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema award.
Here is the complete list of nominees. Winners are indicated by *WINNER.
BEST FILM
“Anatomy of a Fall”
“The Holdovers”
“Killers of the Flower Moon”
“Oppenheimer” *WINNER
“Poor Things”
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
“All of Us Strangers”
“How to Have Sex”
“Napoleon”
“The Old Oak”
“Poor Things”
“Rye Lane”
“Saltburn”
“Scrapper”
“Wonka”
“The Zone of Interest” *WINNER
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
“Blue Bag Life”
“Bobi Wine: The People’s President”
“Earth Mama” *WINNER
“How To Have Sex”
“Is There Anybody Out There?”
FILM NOT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE
“20 Days In Mariupol”
“Anatomy of a Fall”
“Past Lives”
“Society of the Snow”
“The Zone of Interest” *WINNER
DOCUMENTARY
“20 Days In Mariupol” *WINNER
“American Symphony”
“Beyond Utopia”
“Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie”
“Wham!”
ANIMATED FILM
“The Boy And The Heron” *WINNER
“Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget”
“Elemental”
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
DIRECTOR
Andrew Haigh, “All of Us Strangers”
Justine Triet, “Anatomy of a Fall”
Alexander Payne, “The Holdovers”
Bradley Cooper, “Maestro”
Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer” *WINNER
Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Anatomy of a Fall,” Justine Triet, Arthur Harari *WINNER
“Barbie,” Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach
“The Holdovers,” David Hemingson
“Maestro,” Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer
“Past Lives,” Celine Song
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“All of Us Strangers,” Andrew Haigh
“American Fiction,” Cord Jefferson *WINNER
“Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan
“Poor Things,” Tony McNamara
“The Zone of Interest,” Jonathan Glazer
LEADING ACTRESS
Fantasia Barrino, “The Color Purple”
Sandra Hüller, “Anatomy of a Fall”
Carey Mulligan, “Maestro”
Vivian Oparah, “Rye Lane”
Margot Robbie, “Barbie”
Emma Stone, “Poor Things” *WINNER
LEADING ACTOR
Bradley Cooper, “Maestro”
Colman Domingo, “Rustin”
Paul Giamatti, “The Holdovers”
Barry Keoghan, “Saltburn”
Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer” *WINNER
Teo Yoo, “Past Lives”
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Emily Blunt, “Oppenheimer”
Danielle Brooks, “The Color Purple”
Claire Foy, “All of Us Strangers”
Sandra Hüller, “The Zone of Interest”
Rosamund Pike, “Saltburn”
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers” *WINNER
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Robert De Niro, “Killers of The Flower Moon”
Robert Downey Jr., “Oppenheimer” *WINNER
Jacob Elordi, “Saltburn”
Ryan Gosling, “Barbie”
Paul Mescal, “All of Us Strangers”
Dominic Sessa, “The Holdovers”
CASTING
“All of Us Strangers,” Kahleen Crawford
“Anatomy of a Fall,” Cynthia Arra
“The Holdovers,” Susan Shopmaker *WINNER
“How to Have Sex,” Isabella Odoffin
“Killers of the Flower Moon,” Ellen Lewis, Rene Haynes
CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Killers of The Flower Moon,” Rodrigo Prieto
“Maestro,” Matthew Libatique
“Oppenheimer,” Hayle van Hoytema *WINNER
“Poor Things,” Robbie Ryan
“The Zone of Interest,” Łukasz Żal
COSTUME DESIGN
“Barbie,” Jacqueline Durran
“Killers of the Flower Moon,” Jacqueline West
“Napoleon,” Dave Crossman, Janty Yates
“Oppenheimer,” Ellen Mirojnick
“Poor Things,” Holly Waddington *WINNER
EDITING
“Anatomy of a Fall,” Laurent Sénéchal
“Killers of the Flower Moon,” Thelma Schoonmaker
“Oppenheimer,” Jennifer Lame *WINNER
“Poor Things,” Yorgos Mavropsaridis
“The Zone of Interest,” Paul Watts
MAKE UP & HAIR
“Killers of the Flower Moon,” Kay Georgiou, Thomas Nellen
“Maestro,” Sian Grigg, Kay Georgiou, Kazu Hiro, Lori McCoy-Bell
“Napoleon,” Jana Carboni, Francesco Pegoretti, Satinder Chumber, Julia Vernon
“Oppenheimer,” Luisa Abel, Jaime Leigh McIntosh, Jason Hamer, Ahou Mofid
“Poor Things,” Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier, Josh Weston *WINNER
ORIGINAL SCORE
“Killers of the Flower Moon,” Robbie Robertson
“Oppenheimer,” Ludwig Göransson *WINNER
“Poor Things,” Jerskin Fendrix
“Saltburn,” Anthony Willis
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” Daniel Pemberton
PRODUCTION DESIGN
“Barbie” — Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
“Killers of the Flower Moon” — Jack Fisk, Adam Willis
“Oppenheimer” — Ruth De Jong, Claire Kaufman
“Poor Things” — Shona Heath, James Price, Zsuzsa Mihalek *WINNER
“The Zone of Interest” — Chris Oddy, Joanna Maria Kuś, Katarzyna Sikora
BEST SOUND
“Ferrari,” Angelo Bonanni, Tony Lamberti, Andy Nelson, Lee Orloff, Bernard Weiser
“Maestro,” Richard King, Steve Morrow, Tom Ozanich, Jason Ruder, Dean Zupancic
“Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” Chris Burdon, James H. Mather, Chris Munro, Mark Taylor
“Oppenheimer,” Willie Burton, Richard King, Kevin O’Connell, Gary A. Rizzo
“The Zone of Interest,” Johnnie Burn, Tarn Willers *WINNER
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
“The Creator,” Jonathan Bullock, Charmaine Chan, Ian Comley, Jay Cooper “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” Theo Bialek, Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams
“Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” Neil Corbould, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland, Alex Wuttke
“Napoleon,” Henry Badgett, Neil Corbould, Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet
“Poor Things,” Simon Hughes *WINNER
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
“Crab Day,” Ross Stringer, Bartosz Stanislawek, Aleksandra Sykulak *WINNER
“Visible Mending,” Samantha Moore, Tilley Bancroft
“Wild Summon,” Karni Arieli, Saul Freed, Jay Woolley
BRITISH SHORT FILM
“Festival of Slaps,” Abdou Cissé, Cheri Darbon, George Telfer
“Gorka,” Joe Weiland, Alex Jefferson
“Jellyfish and Lobster,” Yasmin Afifi, Elizabeth Rufai *WINNER
“Such a Lovely Day,” Simon Woods, Polly Stokes, Emma Norton, Kate Phibbs
“Yellow,” Elham Ehsas, Dina Mousawi, Azeem Bhati, Yiannis Manolopoulos
EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
Phoebe Dynevor
Ayo Edebiri
Jacob Elordi
Mia McKenna-Bruce *WINNER
Sophie Wilde
