'The Artist' wins top honours at BAFTA

The black-and-white silent movie 'The Artist' swept away top honours at the Orange British Academy Film Awards - it was named the best film, while Michel Hazanavicius and Jean Dujardin bagged the best director and best actor trophies for the film respectively.


Penelope Cruz stands with French actor Jean Dujardin who won best
leading actor award for 'The Artist'" at the BAFTA. Pic/AFP

Hazanavicius also won the best screenplay (original) award for the movie at a gala ceremony at the Royal Opera House here Sunday.

Guillaume Schiffman won the best cinematography award for his work in 'The Artist', while Mark Bridges got the best costume design trophy for the film.

Set in 1927, 'The Artist' is about a silent movie star George Valentin who fears whether the arrival of talking pictures will cause him to fade into oblivion.

Actress Meryl Streep won the best actress trophy for playing then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 'The Iron Lady', which takes a look at Thatcher's life with a focus on the price she paid for power. The film also won the best makeup-hair award.

Christopher Plummer, 82, won the best supporting actor award for his performance in 'Beginners', a romantic comedy-drama written and directed by Mike Mills, and is said to have become the oldest person to win a BAFTA.

Octavia Spencer bagged the best supporting actress trophy for her role in 'The Help', a big screen adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's novel of the same name. It tells the story of a young white woman and her relationship with her two black maids.

Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan won the best screenplay (Adapted) award for their work in 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy', an Anglo-French espionage film, which is based on the 1974 novel of the same name by John le Carre. The film, which is directed by Tomas Alfredson, also won an award for its adapted screenplay and was also named the outstanding British film.

Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiav won the best sound and production design award for the 3D adventure drama 'Hugo', directed by Martin Scorsese.

Martin Scorsese was also honoured with BAFTA's Academy Fellowship, an honorary award given for 'outstanding and exceptional contribution to film'.

Pedro Almodovar's 'The Skin I Live In' won the best film not in the English language trophy and pipped the Iranian film 'A Separation'.

Auto-racing documentary 'Senna' won BAFTA for the best editing and it also bagged the best documentary award.

Gore Verbinski's 'Rango' was named the top animated feature.

'A Morning Stroll' walked away with the best short animation movie, while 'Pitch Black Heist' won the best short film trophy.