Tears, laughter and some Take That fangirling from a best actress nominee – this year’s BAFTA Film Awards had it all.

Conclave and The Brutalist were the night’s big winners, taking home four awards each – including best picture and outstanding British film for Conclave, and best actor for The Brutalist star Adrien Brody and directing award for its filmmaker, Brady Corbet.

But as always with these big entertainment awards ceremonies, there were plenty of moments to remember outside the big prizes.

Here are our BAFTA 2025 key talking points.

The return of Tennant

Hosts can make or break an awards ceremony, so when you get a good ‘un you want to keep them. After a successful stint in 2024, Doctor Who and Rivals star David Tennant was back to take the helm once again.

This time round, the Scottish actor, sporting a kilt and sporran at first, kicked things off by calling on the “BAFTA gods” – acting legends Dame Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent and Brian Cox, naturally – before a sketch performance of The Proclaimers’ hit I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).

Of course, this needed some audience participation – including from US stars Camila Cabello, Colman Domingo and Anna Kendrick, who probably didn’t have a clue what was going on but joined in with gusto.

Tennant joked about actors “freshening up” while they age, after referencing that Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa took on his role in the BBC series, as well as the length of films such as The Brutalist (three-and-a-half hours).

“Who doesn’t like a chance to have a wee halfway through?” he asked, while talking about the film’s much-needed intermission.

Emilia Perez awards despite controversy – and Saldana’s speech

It went into awards season as one of the favourites, but Emilia Perez has been surrounded by controversy in recent weeks.

As stars Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez enjoyed the show, leading actress Karla Sofia Gascon was notably absent from the ceremony following the resurgence of offensive tweets, and the film has also come under fire for its portrayal of Mexico and of trans people.

Despite this, it picked up the BAFTAs for best film not in the English language and best supporting actress for Saldana.

Earlier this month, director Jacques Audiard said Gascon’s tweets were “inexcusable” and that he was “very sad” to see the issue “taking up all the space” around the film.

However, collecting the BAFTA for best film not in the English language, the French filmmaker namechecked all his stars, including Gascon – and blew her a kiss through his translator.

“I’m deeply proud of what we have all achieved together – long live Emilia Perez,” he said.

Read more:
The full list of winners
The BAFTA red carpet in pictures

In her speech, an emotional Saldana said the film defied categorisation and also paid tribute to her co-stars, before realising she was taking too long and being given a countdown. “F***, f***, f***”, she panicked, before continuing with her speech anyway.

Thanking her mother for “being such a selfless person”, she broke down in tears, and added: “Films are supposed to change hearts and challenge minds and I hope Emilia Perez did something like this, because voices need to be heard.”

Kylie Jenner sneaks in

We didn’t see her on the red carpet, but sneaky old Kylie Jenner, girlfriend of Timothee Chalamet, was most definitely in attendance to show her support.

The Kardashians star was in the audience next to Chalamet, who was nominated for best actor for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown.

During a break from awards announcements, Tennant spent time joking with some of the A-listers in the crowd, and the couple didn’t escape from his mic (or the cameras), despite their efforts to keep their appearance lowkey.

Referencing the Chalamet lookalike competition that made headlines in New York last year, Tennant joked about what a good likeness the “second place” doppelganger before him was – and how nice it was to have a Jenner lookalike, too.

Take That perform – and Saoirse Ronan fangirls

If you’ve seen Anora, you’ll know the filmmakers behind it are fans of Take That, specifically the 2008 hit Greatest Day.

The band, now a trio of Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald, performed the hit remix used in the film on stage at the ceremony.

As host Tennant made his way through the crowd afterwards, he came across best actress nominee Saoirse Ronan and her husband Jack Lowden.

Is Ronan a Take That fan? “I’ve seen you twice,” she shouted at the boys as they made their way off stage.

That’s a yes, then.

Kieran Culkin couldn’t attend – so Jesse Eisenberg stepped up

Following best supporting actor wins at earlier ceremonies including the Golden Globes, Kieran Culkin has been a favourite when it comes to speeches this awards season.

It was no surprise to see him honoured at the BAFTAs, but as he sadly couldn’t attend the ceremony in person, his co-star and director Jesse Eisenberg stepped up – not only collecting the award on his behalf but also delivering the laughs, too.

In A Real Pain, the pair play two very different cousins on a trip exploring their Jewish grandmother’s roots in Poland.

The BAFTA was “like the fifth” award Eisenberg has picked up for Culkin, he told the audience. “We have a similar life, but his is 20% better than mine,” he added.

Accepting the award for best original screenplay, Eisenberg also joked that his wife had not attended the ceremony as she did not think he would win.

Breakthrough star pays tribute to sex workers

After gaining a lot of support throughout the awards ceremony, Demi Moore was a favourite for a prize for her performance in The Substance. However, Mikey Madison had also gained momentum in recent weeks thanks to her breakout role as a young sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch in Anora.

This one is a particularly exciting win as Madison, 25, was also up for the rising star award for up-and-coming talent. Being nominated in a major category in the same year is quite a feat in itself – winning it even more so.

On stage, Madison thanked her mother for driving her “to so many auditions”, as well as her fellow castmates.

She also paid tribute to the sex worker community, after working with many women in the industry to perfect her performance.

“I want to take a second to recognise the sex worker community,” Madison said. “You deserve respect and decency, and I… (urge) others to do the same… I will always be a friend and an ally.”

Kneecap: ‘It’s a movement’

Irish-language film Kneecap, a semi-autobiographical story starring a trio of rappers of the same name from Belfast, picked up the award for outstanding debut for a British filmmaker.

Band member JJ O Dochartaigh always wears a balaclava featuring the Irish flag – but for the BAFTAs he went all out, matching his suit.

The award went to director and writer Rich Peppiatt, who collected the prize on stage.

“Within two weeks of moving to Belfast I met Kneecap and now I’m standing here,” he told the audience, saying his movie was “more than a film, it’s a movement – about how everyone should have their language respected, their culture respected, their homeland respected.

“This award is dedicated to everyone out there fighting that fight.”

British success and a new collab?

Here’s a look backstage at US singer-songwriter Camila Cabello and the Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl filmmakers Nick Park, left, and Merlin Crossingham.

The pair picked up the prize for best children’s and family film, becoming the first ever recipients of the award, which was presented by Cabello.

We’re hoping this could be the start of a new partnership.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl also took home the animated film trophy, with Park joking on stage: “I didn’t actually write a second speech.”

And there was more recognition for British technical creatives in other categories, too.

Nathan Crowley and Lee Sandales picked up the award for best production design, for their incredible visual work on the blockbuster smash Wicked.

Paul Lambert was on the team awarded the BAFTA for best visual effects, for his work on the science fiction blockbuster Dune: Part Two – which also won best sound, with a winning team including British mixer and engineer Gareth John.

Warwick Davis’s emotional speech

Honoured with the prestigious BAFTA fellowship award, Warwick Davis dedicated the prize to his late wife Samantha, who died in March last year.

Davis, who is known for fantasy film Willow and the Harry Potter movies, received the organisation’s highest honour for his performing and advocacy work.

“This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me – and I’ve been in Star Wars,” he joked at the start of his speech, before getting emotional as he talked about his wife and referenced his children, Annabelle and Harrison, who were in the audience.

“Thank you to the support of our wonderful children, I’ve been able to keep engaging in life,” he said.

Davis was born with spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, a rare bone disorder that results in dwarfism.

Previous recipients of the fellowship include Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Sir Alfred Hitchcock, Dame Elizabeth Taylor, Stanley Kubrick, Billy Wilder, Ken Loach, Sir Michael Caine, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Lord Laurence Olivier and Dame Judi Dench.

Look out for David Jonsson

British actor David Jonsson was named this year’s BAFTA rising star – the only award voted for by the public.

The 31-year-old recently starred in the film Alien: Romulus and his credits also include TV series Industry as well as the 2023 romantic comedy Rye Lane.

“I’ve got to be honest, this isn’t why I do it,” he told the BAFTA audience in his speech. “Do you know what I mean? I’m just an east London boy.

“I didn’t really see a space for me in this industry. But this award is about people and as long as we can keep telling stories about people I think there’s got to be a space for me.”

Jonsson saw off competition from his fellow Industry and Back To Black star Marisa Abela, American actor Jharrel Jerome, Anora’s Madison and Informer star Nabhaan Rizwan.

Previous winners include Kristen Stewart, Daniel Kaluuya, John Boyega and Tom Hardy, all before they became big names in the industry.

Sing Sing stars visas denied, filmmakers say

This wasn’t a moment from the ceremony, but on the red carpet ahead of the awards the filmmakers behind Sing Sing, which tells the true story of a group of men who take part in an arts rehabilitation project at a maximum security prison, spoke to Sky News on the red carpet.

While Colman Domingo, an established Hollywood star who was nominated for best actor, was able to attend the ceremony, the real-life person he portrayed in the film, Divine G Whitfield, was not – and neither was his co-star Clarence Maclin.

Maclin is a former inmate who played himself in the film, after being rehabilitated through the programme, and was nominated for best supporting actor.

Both were denied denied entry to the UK earlier this week due to their previous convictions, filmmakers Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley said.

“Their visas were denied to enter the country because they have served prison time, which goes against the grain of everything this movie stands for,” Kwedar told us. “It shows that people have the capacity to grow and to come back into their communities when they leave prison.

“These two particular men have such courage, vulnerability, integrity – and they’re not here tonight and they should be. The story is about them, it was built with them.”

Conclave has taken the top prize at this year’s BAFTA film awards, winning best film as well as outstanding British film.

Based on Robert Harris’s 2016 novel of the same name, and centred around the selection of a new pope, the movie also won best adapted screenplay and best editing.

Thanking his ensemble cast as he accepted the award, director Edward Berger said: “What you did to me on set when I watched you was pure magic, it was beyond my grasp or understanding.”

It’s not the first BAFTA success for the filmmaker, who swept the board two years ago with his remake of All Quiet On The Western Front, taking seven prizes.

BAFTA Awards 2025: The full list of winners

Despite being the most nominated movie of the night, Conclave did not take any of the acting prizes, with its star Ralph Fiennes losing out to The Brutalist lead Adrien Brody in best actor.

Brody’s portrayal of Hungarian architect Lazlo Toth making his way in America after World War II saw the 51-year-old actor bag his first BAFTA statuette.

New York-born Brody said the gong was “incredibly meaningful”, adding: “England has felt quite a bit like home lately.”

The three-and-a-half-hour-long epic also took best director, best original score and best cinematography.

Accepting his director award, Brady Corbet, told the audience that despite being “humbled” and “grateful” for his win, there really was “no such thing” as best director.

Conclave and The Brutalist were joint-winners across the night, taking four gongs each.

Anora, about a Brooklyn sex worker who marries into money, saw its break-out lead star, Mikey Madison take the top prize, after many had forecast a win for Demi Moore.

Accepting her award, the 25-year-old actress took her moment on the stage to honour the sex worker community, who she said had helped her immeasurably in her preparation for the role, telling them: “I see you. You deserve respect and human decency. I will always be a friend and an ally.”

Anora also took the casting prize.

Emilia Perez, which has come under fire in recent weeks following resurfaced tweets from its lead star Karla Sofia Gascon, took best film not in the English language. Gascon was not at the event.

An emotional Zoe Saldaña, took best supporting actress for her outstanding performance in the musical – in which she acts, sings and dances – telling the audience her win was “so validating” and “a true honour”.

As she accepted her prize the 46-year-old star said: “I was told not to cry by my children, so I’m going to try. This is so validating because the very few times I tried to go for roles with a British accent I was told this isn’t going to happen.”

She ended her emotional speech by saying: “Films are supposed to change hearts and challenge minds and I hope Emilia Perez did something like this, because voices need to be heard, just not my English accent.”

Saldana, who won in the same category at the Golden Globes last month will be hoping to follow up her success with an Oscar in March.

An early front-runner in awards season, mostly Spanish language movie Emilia Perez had already been under fire from parts of the trans community for what some considered to be a retrograde step in representation, as well as those who objected to stereotypical depictions of Mexicans, as well as its handling of the sensitive topic of narcotics crime, which has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.

Kieran Culkin, 42, won best supporting actor for his role in comedy A Real Pain, with his co-star and the film’s writer Jesse Eisenberg accepting the gong on his behalf due to a member of Culkin’s family being unwell, meaning he was in New York to be by their side.

The movie, about two cousins revisiting their family history in Poland, also took best original screenplay.

Body horror The Substance took a well-deserved win for best makeup and hair, despite Moore missing out on the best actress win.

Back to host for a second year running, Scottish actor David Tennant opened the show singing The Proclaimers’ I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).

With 42 gongs to hand out, from a host of star presenters, the first awards of the night went to Dune: Part Two which took special visual effects.

Elsewhere, Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl bagged best children’s and family film as well a best animated feature.

Accepting his second prize, Aardman director Nick Park joked: “I didn’t actually write a second speech.”

Republican Irish-language band Kneecap lived up to their promise, with the film’s director Rich Peppiatt taking outstanding debut.

The music biopic about Mo Chara, Moglai Bap and DJ Provai (who wore his trademark balaclava in the colours of the Irish flag on the red carpet) had been up for six BAFTAs, despite missing out on making it to the Oscars shortlist last month.

While it was up for seven awards, BAFTA voters didn’t seem to be feeling too much of the Wicked magic, with the Wizard Of Oz prequel taking two prizes, best production design and best costume design.

Meanwhile, Dune: Dune Part Two performed well in the technical categories, winning best sound and best visual effects.

Despite being up for six awards, A Complete Unknown, went home empty handed.

Lack of gongs aside, the movie’s star Timothée Chalamet still managed to cause plenty of buzz on the night, thanks to the fact he was accompanied to the ceremony with his girlfriend Kylie Jenner, who is part of the Kardashian clan.

In a pre-announced win, British star Warwick Davis, best known for fantasy film Willow and the Harry Potter movies, was awarded the prestigious BAFTA film fellowship for both his performing and advocacy work.

The In Memoriam section of the night was led by Wicked star Jeff Goldblum playing As Time Goes By on the piano as late stars including Dame Maggie Smith, David Lynch and Dame Joan Plowright were honoured.

Alien Romulus star David Jonsson won the only publicly voted award of the night, the rising star, celebrating up and coming talent.

And in a balloon-filled performance, Take That’s current line up of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen performed their hit Greatest Day, which features heavily in Anora.

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Hollywood stars have arrived in style for the BAFTA Film Awards in London.

Demi Moore, Adrien Brody, Timothee Chalamet, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Hugh Grant, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldana and Kieran Culkin are among the nominees at the ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

Papal thriller Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes, leads the nominations, followed closely by Spanish-language musical Emilia Perez, and post-war epic The Brutalist.

Here are all the best looks from the BAFTA red carpet.