Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front swept the 2023 BAFTA Film Awards, the British equivalent of the Oscars, taking home seven awards — Outstanding Film, Director, Film Not in the English Language, Cinematography, Adapted Screenplay, Sound, and Score.
Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin came in second with four wins — Outstanding British Film, Original Screenplay, Supporting Actor for Barry Keoghan, and Supporting Actress for Kerry Condon. (Although, when presenter Troy Kotsur announced Condon’s win, he accidentally said the name of a completely different actress, Carey Mulligan. Ouch.)
That shut out Oscar frontrunner Everything Everywhere All At Once which was up for 10 awards. It only took home one for Editing.
However, bear in mind that the BAFTAs are a British entity so voters are going to skew toward British or European projects, so those have a leg up.
But do these results change the chances for these films at the Oscars? Well… maybe. The Oscars are voted on by individuals in the industry and they can be swayed by established wins.
As I previously expressed, I felt the Best Picture Oscar race would likely be a contest between The Banshees of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All At Once, with Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans as a dark horse possibility.
My prediction was that All Quiet on the Western Front would take home International Feature, thus taking it out of the running for Best Picture. But at the BAFTAs, it won both Outstanding Film and Film Not in the English Language, so that perhaps does boost its chances of possibly taking both prizes at the Oscars.
However, as I said, the BAFTAs are Euro-centric and American viewers and voters may skew more toward Everything Everywhere All At Once, which was a huge hit stateside and continues to generate buzz following its 11 Oscar noms.
While the BAFTAs largely skew toward European productions, they do nominate and even crown American talent. This year, Austin Butler continued his winning streak, scoring Outstanding Actor for Elvis and that honestly could make an impact as he was seen as a frontrunner for the Oscars with competition from Brendan Fraser for The Whale. Though Colin Farrell won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy, his loss to Butler at the BAFTAs may have sealed his fate.
Cate Blanchett won Best Actress for Tár and is expected to take the Oscar over Michelle Yeoh, despite winning multiple other prizes leading up until now. Aftersun‘s Charlotte Wells took home Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer.
You can see all of the winners at the BAFTAs below.
BEST FILM
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; Malte Grunert
LEADING ACTRESS
CATE BLANCHETT; Tár
LEADING ACTOR
AUSTIN BUTLER; Elvis
EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
EMMA MACKEY
MAKEUP & HAIR
ELVIS; Jason Baird, Mark Coulier, Louise Coulston, Shane Thomas
DIRECTOR
EDWARD BERGER; All Quiet on the Western Front
PRODUCTION DESIGN
BABYLON; Florencia Martin, Anthony Carlino
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN; Martin McDonagh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
THE BOY, THE MOLE, THE FOX AND THE HORSE; Peter Baynton, Charlie Mackesy, Cara Speller, Hannah Minghella
BRITISH SHORT FILM
AN IRISH GOODBYE; Tom Berkeley, Ross White
COSTUME DESIGN
ELVIS; Catherine Martin
SOUND
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; Lars Ginzsel, Frank Kruse, Viktor Prášil, Markus Stemler
ORIGINAL SCORE
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; Volker Bertelmann
DOCUMENTARY
NAVALNY; Daniel Roher, Diane Becker, Shane Boris, Melanie Miller, Odessa Rae
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER; Richard Baneham, Daniel Barrett, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN; Martin McDonagh
ANIMATED FILM
GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO; Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar, Alex Bulkley
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
AFTERSUN; Charlotte Wells (Writer/Director)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; James Friend
EDITING
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE; Paul Rogers
CASTING
ELVIS; Nikki Barrett, Denise Chamian
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; Edward Berger, Malte Grunert
SUPPORTING ACTOR
BARRY KEOGHAN; The Banshees of Inisherin
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
KERRY CONDON; The Banshees of Inisherin
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT; Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell
