Kathryn Bigelow becomes first woman to
win best director award.

The British Academy (Film and Television Arts) awards were held last
night February 21st in London and the Kathryn Bigelow directed movie
‘Hurt Locker’ swept the board with 6 awards including best
Director and best Film. 

The Hurt Locker, which is a movie about a bomb disposal expert in the Iraq War also won sound, editing,
cinematography and
original screenplay titles.

The mega-hyped and infinitely more expensive
‘Avatar’ directed by Bigelow’s ex husband James Cameron
won 2 awards, for production design and visual effects.

Sarah
Cooper reports at Screen
Daily that Bigelow
described winning the award as:

“humbling and
deeply moving”

and dedicated it to:

“never abandoning the need to find a
resolution to peace”.

She hoped she was the “first
of many” women to win the prize.

Ms. Cooper noted that there is a good chance of an even
bigger prize in March.

“Bigelow is also tipped to become the first woman to win
the best director Oscar next month.”

IndieWire published the full
transcript of her acceptance speech.

“What an honour, Especially to be in this room filled
with so many incredibly talented people that I have admired and been
inspired by for decades. I think the secret of directing is
collaboration, and I was so, so lucky to have a wonderful cast and crew is so incredibly talented, and a cinematographer who is a visual poet, and my incredible editors. This is really amazing and humbling and
deeply moving, and I think we all felt a real responsibility to honour
the men and women in the field and to honour a screenplay and a
screenwriter who risked his life to capture the chaos and tragedy of
war. I would like to dedicate this to never abandoning the resolution
to find peace.”

Whether the Oscar will be forthcoming remains to be
seen, but the BAFTA are generally thought to be a  good
indicator, and Bigelow must now be favourite. 

Cinematical has the details:

“If you need some help in your Oscar pool and have
the BAFTA winners in front of you, they have also improved over the years in the rest of the categories that match up stateside. In 2003-04 they were only 2-for-9 after the Top Eight. In 2005 they were up to 4-for-9, 50/50 in 2006, 60% in 2007, and a stunning 9-for-10 just last year.
Their miss for 2008 came in the Foreign Language category, where they
have not matched up with Oscar since 2000′s Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon” 

 indieWIRE
also noted:

Another female-helmed
film – Andrea Arnold’s “Fish Tank”
- took the night’s biggest Brit-centric prize, topping “An Education,”
“Moon,” “Nowhere Boy” and “In The Loop”
for the Best British Film award.

Andrea Arnold on acceptance of her award said:

“This is really a great
honour. Thank you to BAFTA and the jury; it really means a lot to be supported by your homies. I had this weird dream last night that I was on a campsite and trying to put up a tent, and every time I found a nice place somebody else came and put up their tent and it felt really significant, but I’m not sure why. Thank you to all the people who worked hard on this, and, er, God save the Queen and thank you.”

All the winners (via ‘MovieFone.)

Best Film:
‘The Hurt Locker‘

Best
Director:
Kathryn Bigelow,
‘The Hurt Locker’

Best Actor:
Colin Firth, ‘A Single Man’

Best
Actress:
Carey Mulligan, ‘An Education’

Best
Supporting Actor: Christoph
Waltz, ‘Inglourious Basterds‘

Best
Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, ‘Precious’

Best
Original
Screenplay: Mark Boal,
‘The Hurt Locker’

Best
Adapted
Screenplay: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, ‘Up in the
Air’

Best
Animated
Film: ‘Up’

Best
Foreign
Language Film: ‘A Prophet’

The Orange
Rising Star Award: Kristen Stewart

Production
Design: ‘Avatar’

Outstanding
British Film: ‘Fish Tank’

Best Makeup:
‘The Young Victoria’

Best
Costume
Design: Sandy Powell, ‘The Young Victoria’

Best
Visual
Effects: ‘Avatar’

Best
Cinematography: Barry Ackroyd, ‘The Hurt Locker’

Outstanding
British Contribution to Cinema: Joe Dunton

Best Film
Editing: ‘The Hurt Locker’

Best Sound:
‘The Hurt Locker’

Best Music:
Michael Giacchino, ‘Up’

Best
Animated
Short: ‘Mother of Many’

Outstanding
Debut: Duncan Jones, ‘Moon’

Best Short
Film:
‘I Do Air’

Best
Animated
Short: ‘Mother of Many’

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