New Delhi: Payal Kapadia’s critically acclaimed movie “All We Imagine As Light” lost out the BAFTA in the Best Film Not in the English Language category to French title “Emilia Perez”.
Despite controversy surrounding its lead star Karla Sofia Gascon’s old tweets, which were viewed as Islamophobic and racist, “Emilia Perez” won the award at Sunday’s ceremony in London with film’s second lead Zoe Saldana taking home the BAFTA in the Supporting Actress segment.
“Emilia Perez”, a French film directed by Jacques Audiard, follows four remarkable women in Mexico, each pursuing their own happiness. Cartel leader Emilia (Gascon) enlists Rita (Saldana), an unappreciated lawyer, to help fake her death so that she can fake her death so that she can finally live authentically as her true self.
“All We Imagine…” revolves around two Malayali nurses in Mumbai and their friendships. The Malayalam-Hindi film created history by becoming the first from India to win the Grand Prix at the Cannes in May last year.
Hours after the ceremony, the official Instagram page of Kapadia’s film shared a picture of the director mingling with fellow artists.
“Win or lose, good year for Indian films internationally @allweimagineaslightfilm,” read the caption of the Instagram Story.
Earlier this year, “Emilia Perez” also won the Golden Globe in the Best Motion Picture Non-English Language category, beating out “All We Imagine…”, “The Girl With the Needle”, “I’m Still Here”, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” and “Vermiglio”.
Other films nominated for the Film Not in the English Language BAFTA were: “I’m Still Here” (Portuguese), “Kneecap” (Irish/English), and “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” (Persian).
“Kneecap” also won its director Rich Peppiatt a BAFTA in the Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer segment.
The movie, also penned by Irish filmmaker Peppiatt, depicts the rise of Kneecap, an Irish hip-hop trio from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Other nominees in the category were: British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri’s “Santosh”, British-Indian director Karan Kandhari’s “Sister Midnight”, and “Monkey Man” by Indian-origin British actor Dev Patel in his directorial debut, and “Hoard” by Luna Carmoon.
At the ceremony, held at the Royal Albert Hall in London, papal thriller “Conclave” — fronted by Ralph Fiennes — emerged as the Best Film along with earning the award for Best British Film as well.
Brady Corbet won the Director BAFTA for “The Brutalist”, which also saw lead star Adrien Brody bag the Best Actor award.
Mikey Madison won Best Actress BAFTA for “Anora”, with Kieran Culkin being adjudged Best Supporting Actor for “A Real Pain”.
Scottish actor David Tennant, star of “Doctor Who” and “Good Omens”, hosted the BAFTAs for the second time.
