British Academy of Film and Television Arts

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), is a British organisation that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, children's film and television, and interactive media.

Introduction

BAFTA was founded in 1947 as The British Film Academy, by David Lean, Alexander Korda, Carol Reed, Charles Laughton and others. In 1958, the Academy merged with The Guild of Television Producers and Directors to form The Society of Film and Television, which eventually became The British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 1976.

BAFTA's main office is on Piccadilly in London, but it also has branches in Northern England, Scotland, Wales, New York City and Los Angeles.

The Academy's trophies are in the form of a theatrical mask designed by American sculptor Mitzi Cunliffe, which was commissioned by the Guild of Television Producers in 1955.

Since 1989, the Los Angeles branch, BAFTA/LA, holds its own awards ceremony each year, called the Britannia Awards.

Awards presented in London

Film

BAFTA's main film awards ceremony is known as the BAFTA Awards, taking place since 2000 in the flagship Odeon cinema on Leicester Square. The ceremony used to take place in April or May, but from 2002 onwards it takes place in February in order to precede the Oscars. The awards are mostly open to all nationalities, though there is an award for best British film.

Only seven actors have been nominated for two performances (for different films) in the same category in the history of the ceremony: the first was Miranda Richardson, followed by Anthony Hopkins, Geoffrey Rush, Sean Penn, Scarlett Johansson, Kate Winslet and George Clooney. On most occasions the actor has won the award - the exceptions being Winslet and Clooney, who failed to win on either nomination.

Winners at the 2006 British Academy Film Awards included: Brokeback Mountain (best film); The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (best British film); Ang Lee (best direction); Reese Witherspoon (best actress); Philip Seymour Hoffman (best actor); De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté (best foreign language film), and (Lord) David Puttnam (BAFTA Fellowship).

Television

The British Academy Television Awards usually take place in April or May, with craft awards having a separate ceremony slightly later in the year.

The 1991 awards were controversial when Prime Suspect beat GBH to win the Best Drama Serial award. In what became known as Baftagate, four of the jurors publicly declared that they had voted for GBH and demanded to see the votes, but these had been destroyed.

Among the 2002 winners were the office comedy The Office and its star Ricky Gervais; souped-up karaoke contest Pop Idol; the long-running soap EastEnders; popular romantic comedy-drama Cold Feet; best actress Julie Walters and best actor Michael Gambon.

Julie Walters, Ricky Gervais and The Office were repeat winners at the 2003 awards in April 2004; other winners included Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Little Britain, and, as best actor, Bill Nighy.

Little Britain triumphed again in the April 2005 ceremony, winning best comedy programme and best comedy performance for Matt Lucas and David Walliams. Channel 4's Sex Traffic was best drama, and its star Anamaria Marinca, best actress. Rhys Ifans won the best actor award, as Peter Cook in Not Only But Always.

Children's

The British Academy Children's Film and Television Awards were established in 1995, and are presented in November.

The 2002 winner of best feature film was Monsters, Inc., which beat nominees The Fellowship of the Ring (film), Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Stuart Little 2.

The 2003 winner was Whale Rider, with subsequent episodes of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings among the runners up.

In 2004 the boy wizard eventually stepped out of the shadows as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban took the award, while the Tolkien saga lost yet again. TV winners in 2004 included Balamory and Dick and Dom in da Bungalow.

Interactive

The BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards were first presented in 1998, and cover websites, computer and video games, and other multimedia. Winners ranged from BBC News Online to Gran Turismo 3. In 2003, these awards were split into the BAFTA Interactive Awards and the BAFTA Games Awards.

Unlike all other BAFTA awards, the interactive and games awards are not given to any individuals, only to companies and/or products.

Awards presented in Los Angeles

The BAFTA/LA awards ceremony, the Britannia Awards, started in 1989 and happens in October/November each year. There are no awards given to films or TV programmes, only to individuals.

During the first ten years only one award was given at each event, called the "Britannia Award for Excellence in Film", but since 1999 the number of awards have grown, and in 2005 they were four: "The Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film" (the original award was renamed in 2000 to honour Stanley Kubrick), "The John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Artistic Excellence in Directing" (added in 2003 in honour of John Schlesinger), "The Britannia Award for Artistic Excellence in International Entertainment", and "The Cunard Britannia Award for Lifetime Contributions to International Film". With the exception of the Stanley Kubrick and John Schlesinger awards, which are always given, both the number of awards and their titles may vary from year to year.

The 2005 recipients were:

Tom Cruise - (The Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film)
Dame Elizabeth Taylor - (The Britannia Award for Artistic Excellence in International Entertainment)
Mike Newell - (The John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Artistic Excellence in Directing)
Ronald Neame - (The Cunard Britannia Award for Lifetime Contributions to International Film)

Previous recipients of the Britannia Awards have included Albert Broccoli, Michael Caine, Peter Ustinov, Martin Scorsese, Anthony Hopkins, Dustin Hoffman, John Travolta, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Hugh Grant, Peter Weir, Tom Hanks and Helen Mirren.

Scotland and Wales

BAFTA Scotland first held an award ceremony for Scottish television and film in 1997. From 1998 to 2002, BAFTA Scotland held an award ceremony focussing on new talent; the organisation resumed giving annual awards in 2005.

BAFTA Cymru has recognised creative work in television and film in Wales with an annual award since 1991.

External links

BAFTA Awards | British television | Cinema of the United Kingdom | 1947 establishments

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