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2009 BAFTA Award Winners - Slumdog Triumphs Yet Again

by Brandon Lee Tenney
February 8, 2009
Source: BAFTA.org

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts annual awards for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games, and animation took place today. Often known as the British equivalent to the Oscars, BAFTA is a charity organization which strives to "support, develop and promote the art forms of the moving image, by identifying and rewarding excellence, inspiring practitioners and benefiting the public." They've identified and rewarded a number of excellent films this year - Slumdog Millionaire being the most recognized with a total of 7 awards. Here's the entire rundown of who triumphed across the pond.

BEST FILM: Slumdog Millionaire

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM: Man on Wire

THE CARL FOREMAN AWARD: Steve McQueen - Hunger
(For Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer for their First Feature Film)

DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Martin McDonagh - In Bruges

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire

NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM: I've Love You So Long

ANIMATED FILM: Wall-E

LEADING ACTOR: Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

LEADING ACTRESS: Kate Winslet - The Reader

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

MUSIC: A.R. Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Anthony Dod Mantle - Slumdog Millionaire

EDITING: Chris Dickens - Slumdog Millionaire

PRODUCTION DESIGN: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

COSTUME DESIGN: The Duchess

SOUND: Slumdog Millionaire

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

MAKE UP & HAIR: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

ACADEMY FELLOWSHIP: Terry Gilliam

All in all, this year's BAFTA winners are pretty close to on point, in my opinion. Slumdog Millionaire deserves all the awards it receives, though I do wish The Dark Knight would have won for Cinematography and Sound instead of Slumdog. And it's great to continue seeing Mickey Rourke and Heath Ledger recognized for their brilliant work in The Wrestler and The Dark Knight, respectively. Though it is a shame to continually see Darren Aronofsky snubbed in the Best Director category - not even a nomination?!

On the other hand, though, to see Martin McDonagh's stellar script for In Bruges win for Original Screenplay almost makes up for it. Almost. We've only got 2 more weeks until the Oscars arrive, so awards season isn't entirely over just yet. Are the BAFTA winners in line with your favorites in 2008?

Explore tags: Awards News, Movie News

sumonesumtime

Yay Mickey!!! GHAAAAA everything else.
Ironmonging

Awww yeah, Suck it Milk!!
Johnny

am i the only person who thought slumdog wasn't anything special??? why is it winning all the technical awards that should be going to tdk?
dave13

Perhaps because it is not your kind of film. i can think of a few people I know that wouldn't enjoy seeing it, and would proclaim that TDK is better. However, I personally believe that overall Slumdog is the better film, perhaps even in the technical areas. TDK was amazing, but I think Slumdog is a more amazing film... and award people probably don't want to give too much to TDK anyways.
Tim "Cloverfield"

Sound for Slumdog? Please! even In Bruges (which I loved) had better Audio. I agree with Johnny in regards to Slum was good, but not great. I understand the attraction, the culture, the location, ya da ya da. So many of trhe cinema-goer in awe. But remember how everyone freaked out when "Bend it like Beckem" came out? I still am not sold. BWTF do I know. I am just a broken down lighting designer, with Audio as my second.
John

I think Slumdog won quite a few Baftas and Oscars for areas they shouldnt have done. However, it was voted for, and is what counts. There were better films out there for cinematography, such as Dark Knight, The Changeling, Bond and many others could be counted. Slumdog was ground breaking in some ways, mixing digital with film cameras used in the same film, and there were some innovative angles and camera movements, yet I still don't think it was the best. Agree about sound as well.