Oppenheimer is a three-hour epic movie about the making of the atomic bomb during World War Two, which won multiple awards at the BAFTA Film Awards on Sunday. It received the top honours for the best film and the best director, along with five other awards. The movie, which was one of the highest-grossing films of 2023, also won awards for leading actor Cillian Murphy, who portrayed the American theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, supporting actor Robert Downey Jr, editing, cinematography, and original score.
Nolan, who won his first BAFTA for directing, acknowledged the effort of various individuals and organizations in the real world who have fought long and hard to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world. In his acceptance speech, he thanked his cast and crew.
“The Holdovers,” a comedy set in a boys’ boarding school, won Da’Vine Joy Randolph the supporting actress prize. “The Zone of Interest,” a movie about the commandant of Auschwitz and his family living next to the Nazi death camp, won three prizes, including outstanding British film, film not in the English language, and sound.
The first prize of the night, original screenplay, went to the courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Fall”. The adapted screenplay went to comedy-drama “American Fiction” which is based on the 2001 novel “Easure” by Percival Everett.
Best documentary went to “20 Days in Mariupol,” journalist Mstyslav Chernov’s personal account of the siege of the Ukrainian city in 2022. Chernov said in his acceptance speech that the story of Mariupol is a symbol of everything that happened, a symbol of struggle.
The ceremony was attended by many celebrities, including BAFTA president Prince William. The BAFTA Film Awards ceremony was hosted by actor David Tennant at the Royal Festival Hall by the River Thames in central London.