‘Conclave’ and ‘Brutalist’ share BAFTA honours

With four prized gongs each, the immigration epic “The Brutalist” and the papal thriller “Conclave” shared for first place at Sunday’s British BAFTA awards.

German-born filmmaker Edward Berger’s “Conclave,” which chronicled the intrigue and backroom politics involved in the election of a new pope, took home the BAFTA award for best film.

Berger, who accepted the award, praised British screenwriter Peter Straughan’s “wonderful script” and star Ralph Fiennes, recalling that the film’s production took seven years.

Adrien Brody won the Best Actor award for his performance as a Hungarian architect and Holocaust survivor who immigrates to the US, while US director Brady Corbet won the BAFTA for best director for “The Brutalist.”

The movie provided “an opportunity for me to honor my own ancestral struggles,” Brody said during a news briefing for the victors.

the aftermath of “a film that speaks to tremendous cruelty and despicable behaviour in our past… we see elements existing today that can guide us and remind us of that,” he stated.

Veteran British actor Fiennes, who portrayed a cardinal in “Conclave,” lost to Brody in the contest for the honor, once again shattering his aspirations of taking home a BAFTA gold.

At the start of the year, the bizarre musical “Emilia Perez,” which tells the story of a Mexican drug lord who transforms into a woman, was a huge sensation. However, the night finished with only two BAFTAs, one of which went to Zoe Saldana for best supporting actress.

With 11 nominations, French filmmaker Jacques Audiard’s film was predicted to be a front-runner until last month.

However, just before the London ceremony and the Oscars on March 2, Karla Sofia Gascon’s old racist and Islamophobic comments came to light at the end of January, upending the race.

The night’s biggest surprise was when 25-year-old Mikey Madison won the BAFTA for best actress for her role as a sex worker in the black comedy “Anora,” which followed the turbulent romance of an exotic dancer.

Madison, who beat out frontrunner Demi Moore, told reporters she wanted to dedicate the award to “the sex worker community, I see you, you deserve respect and human dignity”.