BAFTA Awards Honors "Gay Shepherds"

The Orange BAFTA – British Academy of Film and Television Awards - ceremony held February 19 in London turned out some surprises in an eclectic number of wins by various actors, directors and producers. The event was hosted by the outstandingly witty Stephen Fry, best known for his role as Oscar Wilde in Wilde. Absolutely every person he presented received a stunning compliment. Even Matt Dillon whom he told the audience he had seen Crash with at the same theater as the awards ceremony - the Odeon at Leicester Square. But his mum wondered “wouldn’t it have been better to see it with him in a hotel room”. Indeed the evening was full of quips to acclaim the theme of Brokeback Mountain - or just to amuse Fry and his accomodating following in the audience. He called Matthew Modine “the honey pot of honey pots” who actually blushed after he announced “Harry Potty” as a nominee for production design.

The producer of Brokeback Mountain said when receiving the award for best film, “Its not a gay cowboy film but a film about gay shepherds", after which he proceeded to name some of the people who “shepherded” the film. Jake Gyllenhaal won the best supporting actor award for Jack Twist. A gracious Ang Lee told the audience how honored he was to receive the "David Lean Award" for best director. He acknowledged British audiences for liking his films such as The Ice Storm which had been popular in England but not the USA. He also revealed that it was an accomplishment to be awarded as an Asian director for making an English language film, Sense and Sensibility had been a challenge, he admitted.

This year’s Rising Star awarded by the audience went to James McAvoy, the 27 year old Scottish actor from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Memoirs of a Geisha claimed three technical awards. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit took home the award for Best British Film. “Buster Keaton would have been proud”, said the voice of Wallis, Peter Sallis . Steve Box explained with exquisite dry humor that it was a “quintessential piece of British nonsense”.

At the end of the night the top award went to Lord David Puttnam for "Lifetime Achievement" - presented to him by Richard Attenborough. Puttnam is the producer of films such as Chariots of Fire, The Mission, Bugsy Malone and The Killing Fields. Puttnam who retired from films eight years ago said he did so because he felt that film was not interesting anymore. But after this year’s work he was honored to be in the presence of so many gifted films and their makers – "for being inspirational and informative". He applauded the work of George Clooney for making films that pumped up the "informative" volume, films that had changed the industry in a year – probably the best accolade of the evening.

The complete list of winners:

Best film
Brokeback Mountain

Best British film
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit

Best actor in a leading role
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote

Best actress in a leading role
Reese Witherspoon - Walk The Line

Best actor in a supporting role
Jake Gyllenhaal - Brokeback Mountain

Best actress in a supporting role
Thandie Newton - Crash

Original screenplay
Crash - Paul Haggis/Bobby Moresco

Adapted screenplay
Brokeback Mountain - Larry McMurtry/Diana Ossana

The David Lean Award for achievement in direction
Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain

The Carl Foreman Award for special achievement by a British Director/Producer or Writer in their first feature film
Joe Wright (Director) - Pride & Prejudice

Best film not in the English language
De Battre Mon Coeur S'est Arrete

The Anthony Asquith Award for achievement in film music
Memoirs of a Geisha - John Williams

Cinematography
Memoirs of a Geisha

Editing
The Constant Gardener

Production design
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Costume design
Memoirs of a Geisha

Sound
Walk the Line

Achievement in special visual effects
King Kong

Make Up and Hair
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Short animation film
Fallen Art

Short Film
Antonio's Breakfast

Academy Fellowship
David Puttnam

The Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema
Robert (Chuck) Finch and Bill Merrell

Moira Sullivan, FIPRESCI