BAFTA Film Awards 2023: All Quiet On The Western Front breaks ceremony’s foreign film record

Published

2 years ago

February 20, 2023

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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.

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!”

A timely anti-war film

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.

Bad luck Colin

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 (something he’s yet to achieve in his 25-year career), 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.

A brief mix-up

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.

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.

A brand new format

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.

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.

Fair and equal representation?

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).

She has also said that BAFTA’s review process will be ongoing and constant, and will be reviewed every year.

While this year’s nominations were more diverse than previous years (the 2020 BAFTA Film shortlist didn’t contain a single non-white actor in any of the performance categories), the eventual four performing category winners are all white.

Representation is always a big talking point come awards season, following previous controversies around diversity at both the BAFTAs and the Oscars.

This is likely to once again raise questions as to whether enough is being done to improve the diversity and inclusion of our biggest awards shows.

UK

Diogo Jota: Liverpool players join mourners as Premier League star and his brother Andre Silva buried in Portugal

Published

6 hours ago

July 5, 2025

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Diogo Jota: Liverpool players join mourners as Premier League star and his brother Andre Silva buried in Portugal

Liverpool players past and present have joined the family and friends of Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva for their funeral in Portugal.

A service was held in the Igreja Matriz de Gondomar church in their hometown of Gondomar near Porto in northern Portugal on Saturday morning.

Mourners lined the streets and some in the crowd clapped as the brothers’ coffins were carried into the church.

The funeral – in pictures

Jota, 28, leaves behind his wife of only 11 days, Rute Cardoso, and three young children.

His younger brother, 25, was an attacking midfielder for Penafiel in the second tier of Portuguese football.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot, captain Virgil Van Dijk and teammates including Andy Robertson, Conor Bradley, Ryan Gravenberch, Cody Gakpo, Curtis Jones, Darwin Nunez and Joe Gomez were seen at the service.

Former teammates Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Fabinho were also there.

Van Dijk carried a red wreath with Jota’s number 20, while Robertson had a wreath featuring number 30, Silva’s number at Penafiel.

Some of Jota’s teammates in the Portuguese national side also attended, including Bruno Fernandes, of Manchester United, Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva, of Manchester City, Joao Felix and Renato Veiga, of Chelsea, Nelson Semedo, from Wolves, Joao Moutinho and Rui Patricio.

Ruben Neves was one of the pallbearers after flying in from Florida where he played for Al Hilal in the Club World Cup quarter-final on Friday night.

‘More than a friend’

In a post published on Instagram before the service, he told Jota he had been “more than a friend, we’re family, and we won’t stop being that way just because you’ve decided to sign a contract a little further away from us!”

Jota’s fellow Liverpool midfielder, Alexis Mac Allister, said on Instagram: “I can’t believe it. I’ll always remember your smiles, your anger, your intelligence, your camaraderie, and everything that made you a person. It hurts so much; we’ll miss you. Rest in peace, dear Diogo.”

Porto FC president Andre Villas-Boas and Portugal national team manager Roberto Martinez were also in attendance.

‘With us forever’

Speaking after the ceremony, Martinez said the period since their deaths had been “really, really sad days, as you can imagine, but today we showed we are a large, close family.

“Their spirit will be with us forever.”

The service was private, but the words spoken by the Bishop of Porto, Manuel Linda, were broadcast to those standing outside the church.

He told Jota’s children, who were not at the service, that he was praying for them specifically, as well as their mother and grandparents.

“There are no words, but there are feelings,” he said, adding: “We also suffer a lot and we are with you emotionally.”

The brothers died after a Lamborghini they were travelling in burst into flames following a suspected tyre blowout in the early hours of Thursday morning.

No other vehicles are said to have been involved in the incident.

Liverpool have delayed the return of their players for pre-season following Jota’s death and players past and present paid tribute to him and his brother on social media.

Flowers have been left outside Anfield, where flags have been lowered to half-mast and all club shops, museums and tours have been closed until Monday.

UK

Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises in autumn budget after welfare bill U-turn

Published

9 hours ago

July 5, 2025

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Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises in autumn budget after welfare bill U-turn

Rachel Reeves has hinted that taxes are likely to be raised this autumn after a major U-turn on the government’s controversial welfare bill.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill passed through the House of Commons on Tuesday after multiple concessions and threats of a major rebellion.

MPs ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to universal credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7.

Initially aimed at saving £5.5bn, it now leaves the government with an estimated £5.5bn black hole – close to breaching Ms Reeves’s fiscal rules set out last year.

In an interview with The Guardian, the chancellor did not rule out tax rises later in the year, saying there were “costs” to watering down the welfare bill.

“I’m not going to [rule out tax rises], because it would be irresponsible for a chancellor to do that,” Ms Reeves told the outlet.

“We took the decisions last year to draw a line under unfunded commitments and economic mismanagement.

“So we’ll never have to do something like that again. But there are costs to what happened.”

Meanwhile, The Times reported that, ahead of the Commons vote on the welfare bill, Ms Reeves told cabinet ministers the decision to offer concessions would mean taxes would have to be raised.

The outlet reported that the chancellor said the tax rises would be smaller than those announced in the 2024 budget, but that she is expected to have to raise tens of billions more.

It comes after Ms Reeves said she was “totally” up to continuing as chancellor after appearing tearful at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Criticising Sir Keir for the U-turns on benefit reform during PMQs, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the chancellor looked “absolutely miserable”, and questioned whether she would remain in post until the next election.

Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she would, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”

In her first comments after the incident, Ms Reeves said she was having a “tough day” before adding: “People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday.

“Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job.”

Sir Keir also told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby on Thursday that he “didn’t appreciate” that Ms Reeves was crying in the Commons.

“In PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang,” he said. “That’s what it was yesterday.

“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”

UK

Diogo Jota and Andre Silva’s funeral in pictures

Published

10 hours ago

July 5, 2025

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Diogo Jota and Andre Silva's funeral in pictures

The family and friends of Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva have been joined by Liverpool stars past and present and other Portuguese players at the pair’s funeral near Porto.

The Liverpool forward, 28, and his brother died in a car crash in Spain on Thursday.

Pictures below show the funeral at the Igreja Matriz de Gondomar church in the town of Gondomar near Porto. Click here for our liveblog coverage of the day’s events.