BAFTA Winners

Even though the awards are time-delayed not only in America, which is to be expected, but also in Great Britain, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) handed out their annual film awards tonight and told us who won live via twitter. Got to love technology.

The winners are below:

Best Film: The King's Speech
Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Supporting Actor: Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech
Best Supporting Actress: Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Best Original Screenplay: The King's Speech
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network
Best British Film: The King's Speech
Best Foreign Language Film: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Best Animated Film: Toy Story 3
Best Film Editing: The Social Network
Best Cinematography: True Grit
Best Production Design: Inception
Best Costume Design: Alice in Wonderland
Best Makeup & Hair: Alice in Wonderland
Best Music: The King's Speech
Best Sound: Inception
Best Special Visual Effects: Inception
Best Short Film: Until the River Runs Red
Best Animated Short: The Eagleman Stag
Best British Debut: Chris Morris, Four Lions
Orange Rising Star: Tom Hardy

The big winner of the night was not shocking as very British film The King's Speech swept up a leading 7 wins including both Best Film and Best British film, only the 6th film in its history to win both awards. Speech also won three of the four acting awards with wins for Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, and Geoffrey Rush. Firth wins his second BAFTA in a row and along with Best Actress winner Natalie Portman are heavily favored to repeat at the Oscars. Increasingly becoming this year's award season runner-up, The Social Network managed to claim 3 wins including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Inception also won 3 awards, mostly tech, and not including the win for its star Tom Hardy getting the Orange Rising Star vote from the public.

What does this tell us about the Oscars? Well The King's Speech is the film to beat although that's been obvious since it won its first guild award over The Social Network. The latter film can take solace in winning at least two Oscars for its director and writer. Colin Firth and Natalie Portman should probably get their speeches ready, but Christian Bale and Melissa Leo shouldn't count their eggs before they hatch. Yes, both have dominated the awards season so far, but they aren't really universally loved and have some baggage. Supporting Actress especially is tricky with four actresses having almost an equal chance to win. Finally, Inception should get more than a few tech wins except for Best Cinematography as Roger Deakins will finally win his first for his work on True Grit.