Ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine and investment in the UK film sector were among the topics raised by the winners at the 2024 Bafta Film Awards.
The ceremony took place tonight (February 18) at London’s Royal Festival Hall where Oppenheimer led the winners with seven awards.
Bafta fellowship recipient Samantha Morton gave a moving speech, touching upon her experiences in care and how important representation is. “I would tell [my younger self[, homeless and cold, hungry and alone, that you’ll have a family one day and you’ll go beyond what government statistics laid out for you,” Morton said.
Later on, at the winners’ press conference, the actress called for more investment in the UK film industry.
“We are a service industry for the wonderful Americans and they are amazing and thank God they came here and make movies and put us in them, thank you,” Morton said.
”But, like in France, we need our own quotas and we need to be making those investments. But if our government only gives us a culture and sports minister rather than separating that and identifying what we do. - all of us in the creative arts - it’s a billion dollar industry and it’s foolish of them to not understand that so we need more investment.”
Conflicts
The Zone Of Interest producer Jim Wilson mentioned continuing conflicts around the world in his speech, saying: “A friend wrote me after seeing the film the other day that he couldn’t stop thinking about the walls we construct in our lives which we chose not to look behind. It seems stark right now [that] we should care about innocent people being killed in Gaza or Yemen in the same way we think about innocent people killed in Mariupol or in Israel. Thank you for recognising a film that asks you to think in those spaces”.
Meanwhile, Mstyslav Chernov, director of best documentary winner 20 Days In Mariupol, said he felt “conflicted” about receiving the award.
“I keep thinking about Ukraine, I keep thinking about what’s happening there right now. The only comfort for me is that we give voice to Ukrainians. We keep reminding the world of what’s happening there. It’s more important than ever to keep talking about this,
“This is for the people of Ukraine, they have saved our lives, they have helped us every step of the way. This is for them”.
Lighter moments during the ceremony included a humorous speech from best supporting actor winner Robert Dowey Jr. who cited Peter O’Toole, Richard Attenborough, Guy Ritchie and Tony Stark as cornerstones in his career. The Oppenheimer star also thanked Christopher Nolan, quipping that the director gave him a “last ditch effort to resurrect his dwindling credibility”.
Best actor winner Cillian Murphy shouted out his “fellow nominees and Oppenhomies” while best actress winner Emma Stone thanked Poor Things for the line ’I must punch that baby’. ” It’s been life changing for me”, she said.
Stone later commented on how awards “can be incredibly meaningful to films that people might not otherwise see” while also expressing her hopes for more inclusivity.
“It creates a conversation about why and hopefully culture changes more and more and expands more and more to include so many people,” she said.
On hosting duties, David Tennant opened the ceremony with an homage to his lockdown comedy series Staged with Martin Sheen, who also starred in the show, and featured cameos from Stanley Tucci. Judi Dench, Tom Hiddleston.
The Doctor Who star also referenced the recent Hollywood strikes, joking that he asked Bafta if actors and writers were going to be safe and they replied “Aye… or do you spell it AI?”.
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