LONDON — Politically charged thriller "One Battle After Another" took six prizes, including best picture, at the British Academy Film Awards on Sunday, building momentum ahead of the Oscars next month.
Blues-steeped vampire epic "Sinners" and gothic horror story "Frankenstein" won three awards each, while Shakespearean family tragedy "Hamnet" was named best British film.
Jessie Buckley, as widely predicted, won the best actress prize for playing a grieving mother, and wife of William Shakespeare, Agnes Hathaway, in “Hamnet.”
In a major upset, Robert Aramayo took the best actor prize for the British indie film “I Swear,” beating stars including Leonardo DiCaprio and Timothée Chalamet.
“One Battle After Another,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s explosive film about a group of revolutionaries in conflict with the state, won the awards for directing, adapted screenplay, cinematography, editing, and Sean Penn’s supporting performance.
“This is very overwhelming and wonderful,” Anderson said as he accepted the directing prize.
Hollywood stars and British celebrities, from Paddington Bear to the Princess of Wales, gathered Sunday for the awards, where “One Battle” and “Sinners” led the nominations.
“Sinners” took home trophies for original screenplay, musicals score and for Wunmi Mosaku's supporting actress performance.
Stars including DiCaprio, Chalamet, Emma Stone, Cillian Murphy, Glenn Close and Ethan Hawke were among those walking the red carpet outside London's Royal Festival Hall before a black-tie ceremony hosted by Scottish actor Alan Cumming.
Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales also attended, three days after William's uncle Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested by police and held for 11 hours over allegations he sent sensitive government information to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The scandal has rocked the royal family led by King Charles III, though William and Kate remain popular standard-bearers for the monarchy. William is due to present an award in his role as president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Among the biggest receptions from gathered fans was for Paddington, the puppet bear who stars in a musical stage adaption of the beloved children's classic.
Oscars bellwether
"One Battle" went into the ceremony with 14 nominations, including best picture and acting nods for five of its cast. "Sinners" was just behind with 13, while "Hamnet" and the ping-pong odyssey "Marty Supreme" each had 11 nominations.
Guillermo del Toro's reimagining of "Frankenstein" and Norwegian family drama " Sentimental Value" each got eight nominations.
“Frankenstein” took awards for production design, costume design and for the hair and makeup artists who spent 10 hours a day transforming Jacob Elordi into the movie's monstrous creature.
“Sentimental Value” won the prize for the best film not in English.
The British prizes, officially called the EE BAFTA Film Awards, often provide hints about who will win at Hollywood's Academy Awards, held this year on March 15. In the Oscar nominations, "Sinners" leads the race with a record 16 nominations, followed by "One Battle After Another" with 13.
Cumming told the audience that it had been a strong year for cinema, if not a cheerful one, with nominated films tackling themes including child death, racism and political violence:
“Watching the films this year was like taking part in a collective nervous breakdown,” he said. “It’s almost as though there are events going on in the real world that are influencing filmmakers.”
The ceremony was more glitz than gloom, though, including a performance by Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami — the voices of animated band HUNTR/X in box office juggernaut “KPop Demon Hunters” — singing the movie hit “Golden.”
Putin critic wins best documentary
The best-documentary prize went to “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” about a Russian teacher who documented the propaganda imposed on Russian schools after the invasion of Ukraine.
The film's American director David Borenstein said that teacher Pavel Talankin had shown that “whether it’s in Russia or the streets of Minneapolis, we always face a moral choice," referring to the protests against U.S. immigration enforcement in Minnesota.
“We need more Mr. Nobodies,” he said.
It beat documentaries including Mstyslav Chernov's harrowing Ukraine war portrait "2000 Meters to Andriivka, " co-produced by The Associated Press and Frontline PBS.
Most BAFTA winners are chosen by 8,500 members of the U.K. academy of industry professionals. Contenders for the Rising Star award — the only prize decided by public vote and a reliable picker of future A-listers — are Infiniti, Aramayo, “Sinners” star Miles Caton and British actors Archie Madekwe and Posy Sterling.
Donna Langley, the U.K.-born chairwoman of NBCUniversal Entertainment, will be awarded the British Academy’s highest honor, the BAFTA fellowship.
The ceremony airs on BBC in the United Kingdom starting at 7 p.m. (1900 GMT) and on E! in the U.S. at 8 p.m. EST.
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Associated Press writer Hilary Fox contributed to this report.
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