BAFTA Film Awards 2023: All Quiet On The Western Front breaks ceremony’s foreign film record
All Quiet On The Western Front has made history, scoring the highest number of BAFTAs for a foreign language film with seven awards – including the night’s big prize for best film.
The Netflix anti-war epic movie had led the BAFTA nominations with 14, equalling the record set in 2001 by Crouching Tiger as a non-English language film with the most nods.
Ian Stokell, Lesley Paterson and Edward Berger accept the adapted screenplay Award for All Quiet on the Western Front
Edward Berger’s reworking of Erich Maria Remarque’s 1928 novel of the same name took the prizes for best director, film not in the English language, adapted screenplay, cinematography and original score and sound, as well as best film.
Its seven wins break the record for the highest number of BAFTAs won by a foreign language film – previously held by Italian coming-of-age drama Cinema Paradiso, which claimed five in 1988.
Director Berger told Sky News: “Best director is the one I never thought would work. It’s a German movie, for Christ’s sake!”
Speaking on stage while accepting the award for best picture, cinematographer James Friend said the film showed how a generation of young German men were “poisoned by right-wing nationalistic propaganda” and he stressed that the film’s message remains relevant nearly a century on.
Berger also paid tribute to those currently fighting in Ukraine, his comments adding to a political flavour on the night, with many stars including Cate Blanchett, Colin Farrell and Michelle Yeoh all wearing a blue ribbon to show their solidarity and support for refugees and displaced people around the world.
Martin McDonagh’s Irish tragi-comedy The Banshees Of Inisherin – which tells a tale of male friendship gone sour – took four gongs, as did Baz Luhrmann’s whirlwind biopic Elvis, about the king of rock and roll.
Austin Butler, 31, was named best actor for his portrayal of Elvis, who died prematurely aged 42 in 1977. The emotional star paid tribute to the Presley family as he accepted his award, saying: “I cannot thank you enough for your love… this means the world to me.”
Elvis’s only daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, died last month aged just 54.
Many had expected Banshees star Farrell to take the best actor prize, so this win was one of the surprises of the night.
Blanchett picked up the best actress award, calling the role of monstrous maestro Lydia Tar, “dangerous and potentially career-ending”.
Becoming emotional towards the end of her speech, she paid tribute to her family – listing her mother and four children – who she said had to put up with her absence for long periods of time while she was working on the movie.
The Banshees of Inisherin saw a double win in the supporting actor and actress categories, with Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan taking the prizes.
Condon’s win followed a brief mix-up, when a miscommunication between a sign language translator and deaf Oscar-winning actor Troy Kotsur, who was presenting the award, saw Carey Mulligan initially announced as the winner.
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Troy Kotsur presented the best supporting actress award to ,The Banshees Of Inisherin star Kerry Condon
With the translator quickly correcting himself, the ceremony soon got back on track, with Condon thanking the cast – as well as her horses and dogs – for the win.
Multiverse sci-fi Everything Everywhere All At Once, indie hit Aftersun, James Cameron blockbuster Avatar: The Way of Water and 1920s Hollywood love-letter Babylon all took once gong each.
For the first time, this year’s awards were held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the Southbank in London.
The night was hosted by actor Richard E Grant, who led the show from the auditorium, and This Morning presenter Alison Hammond who spoke to the stars in a new BAFTA studio, giving viewers at home an access-all-areas experience of one of the biggest nights in film.
For the first time in BAFTA history, four of the night’s 25 categories were broadcast live – meaning those in the auditorium got to hear the biggest winners at the same time as the viewing public, most likely prompted by the show’s bosses striving to stay relevant in a landscape of ever-declining award show audiences.
Ariana DeBose was among the night’s musical performers
There were also live music performances from US actress Ariana DeBose, London-born rapper Little Simz and musician Dylan.
The Prince and Princess of Wales were among those in attendance, and Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren led a tribute to the late Queen.
While four-time BAFTA winner Blanchett called 2022 an “extraordinary year for women” in her best actress acceptance speech, just one woman – Gina Prince-Bythewood, who directed The Woman King – made the best director category, and she missed out on the prize – which went to Berger for All Quiet On The Western Front.
While men dominated the BAFTA film shortlist, and no female-directed films made it into the best film category, the outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer category was an all-female shortlist of talent; the writer and director of Aftersun, Charlotte Wells, took that award.
Ahead of the ceremony, when asked about the possibility of gender-neutral performance categories – as the Brits has adopted – BAFTA chief executive Jane Millichip said there was “no timeline” for making a decision as they want to get it right, and they are currently consulting with organisations such as GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation).
Taylor Swift has announced she is getting married to her NFL star boyfriend Travis Kelce.
The pop star and Kansas City Chiefs tight end shared the news in a joint post on Instagram, with the caption: “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”
The announcement was liked more than 1.7 million times just over 30 minutes after it was posted.
Pic: Instagram / @taylorswift
Swift and Kelce started their relationship in July 2023, after the three-time Super Bowl winner said on his podcast New Heights that he tried and failed to meet the singer at her Eras Tour concert in Kansas City.
Rumours grew that the couple were dating after Swift was spotted at a number of Chiefs games. On her seventh time in the stands, she brought her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, along.
Kelce told the Wall Street Journal in November 2023: “There were definitely people she knew that knew who I was, in her corner [who said]: ‘Yo! Did you know he was coming [to the Eras Tour]?’
“I had somebody playing Cupid… She told me exactly what was going on and how I got lucky enough to get her to reach out.”
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From January: Taylor cheers on Travis after Chiefs win
Earlier this month, Swift appeared on Kelce’s podcast, New Heights, and announced her 12th album, titled The Life Of A Showgirl.
Speaking to her now-fiance and his brother Jason Kelce, Swift said it was inspired by the Eras Tour – and also talked about Travis’s attempt at meeting her two years ago.
While she said his plan to give her his number on a friendship bracelet was a “wild, romantic gesture,” she joked he “didn’t do any proper logistical planning” and thought he would be allowed backstage.
“Because he knows the elevator lady, he thought he could talk to her about just getting down to my dressing room,” she added. “That’s how it works in 1973.”
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The new album, which will be released on 3 October, marks her first release since she took back control over her entire back catalogue from private equity firm Shamrock Capital.
Sky News culture and entertainment reporter Gemma Peplow said after her globe-trotting tour and a swathe of re-releases over recent years, the new album cemented Swift’s reputation “as the hardest-working star in pop”.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Despite rumours he would retire after losing this year’s Super Bowl, Kelce will play for the Kansas City Chiefs again this season.
He told GQ magazine his on-field performances “slipped a little bit” as he started acting, and added: “I’m just saying that my work ethic is such that I have so much pride in how I do things that I never want the product to tail off, and I feel like these past two years haven’t been to my standard.”
Entertainment
Boy, 16, convicted in Germany over supporting failed terror plot at Taylor Swift concert
A 16-year-old has been convicted in Germany for supporting a foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift concerts in Austria last year.
The teenager, named Mohammad A, who cannot be fully identified under Germany’s privacy laws, was convicted of preparing a serious act of violence and supporting a terrorist act of violence abroad.
He was handed a suspended 18-month sentence on Tuesday. According to the court, he made a “comprehensive confession” at his trial, which was held behind closed doors because of his age.
German judges found that the defendant, a Syrian national then aged 14, supported the ideology of the Islamic State group at the time.
The court heard he was also in contact via social media with a young man in Austria who planned to attack a Swift concert in Vienna, had sent him a video with bomb-building instructions, and organised contact with an IS member.
All three of Swift’s concerts at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium were cancelled in August last year after a terror plot was uncovered by authorities.
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Swiftie on cancelled Vienna show
Concert organisers had expected up to 65,000 fans inside the stadium at each concert and as many as 30,000 onlookers outside.
Authorities said the main suspect, now 20, planned to target those outside of the stadium and hoped to “kill as many people as possible”.
Omar Haijawi-Pirchner, head of the directorate of state security and intelligence, added at the time that the suspect was “clearly radicalised in the direction of the Islamic State and thinks it is right to kill infidels”.
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Swift later called the decision to cancel her shows in Austria “devastating,” and said: “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows.
“But I was also so grateful to the authorities because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives.”
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