"Argo" Wins Best Picture and Director at 2013 BAFTAs

by Leroy Douresseaux

The BAFTA Film Awards are the British equivalent of the American Academy Awards (the Oscars).  At the 2013 BAFTAs, Argo was named the "Best Film of 2012," one of three awards it won, including a "Best Director" trophy for Ben Affleck.  In a surprise, Emmanuelle Riva won the "Leading Actress" prize for her performance in Amour.  In a non-surprise, Daniel Day-Louis won "Leading Actor" for his performance in Lincoln.  Django Unchained won two awards: "Original Screenplay" (Quentin Tarantino) and "Supporting Actor" (Christoph Waltz).

The 66th EE British Academy Film Awards took place on Sunday, February 10, 2013 at London's Royal Opera House.

2013 BAFTA FILM AWARD WINNERS (for the film year 2012):

BEST FILM
ARGO - Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, George Clooney

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
SKYFALL - Sam Mendes, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
BART LAYTON (Director), DIMITRI DOGANIS (Producer)- The Imposter

DIRECTOR
ARGO - Ben Affleck

DOCUMENTARY
SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN - Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
DJANGO UNCHAINED - Quentin Tarantino

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK - David O. Russell

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
AMOUR - Michael Haneke, Margaret Ménégoz

ANIMATED FILM
BRAVE - Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman

LEADING ACTOR
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS - Lincoln

LEADING ACTRESS
EMMANUELLE RIVA - Amour

SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPH WALTZ - Django Unchained

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
ANNE HATHAWAY - Les Misérables

ORIGINAL MUSIC
SKYFALL - Thomas Newman

CINEMATOGRAPHY
LIFE OF PI - Claudio Miranda

EDITING
ARGO - William Goldenberg

PRODUCTION DESIGN
LES MISÉRABLES - Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson

COSTUME DESIGN
ANNA KARENINA - Jacqueline Durran

SOUND
LES MISÉRABLES - Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, Jonathan Allen, Lee Walpole, John Warhurst

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
LIFE OF PI - Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer

MAKE UP & HAIR
LES MISÉRABLES - Lisa Westcott

SHORT ANIMATION
THE MAKING OF LONGBIRD - Will Anderson, Ainslie Henderson

SHORT FILM
SWIMMER - Lynne Ramsay, Peter Carlton, Diarmid Scrimshaw

EE RISING STAR AWARD
Juno Temple

Outstanding Contribution To British Cinema:
Tessa Ross