'Conclave' wins best picture at BAFTAs as 'The Brutalist' takes directing and acting prizes

Ralph Fiennes poses for photographers upon arrival at the 78th British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA's, in London, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)

LONDON — Papal thriller Conclave won four prizes including best picture on Sunday at the 78th British Academy Film Awards, where genre-bending musical Emilia Pérez proved that it’s still an awards contender despite a multipronged backlash that looked to have dented its chances.

At a ceremony where no film dominated, The Brutalist equaled the awards tally of Conclave, scooping four trophies, including best director for Brady Corbet and best actor for Adrien Brody. Mikey Madison won the best actress prize for Brooklyn tragicomedy Anora.

Conclave, which stars Ralph Fiennes as a cardinal corralling conniving clergy as they elect a new pope, beat Anora, The Brutalist, Emilia Pérez and Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown to the top prize. Conclave was also named outstanding British film and took trophies for editing and adapted screenplay.

Supporting performer prizes went to Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain and Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez, which also won the award for best film not in the English language.

Best actress nominee Karla Sofía Gascón, who stars as the titular transgender ex-cartel boss in Emilia Pérez, wasn’t at the ceremony. Gascón has withdrawn from promoting the film, which has 13 Oscar nominations, amid controversy over her social media posts disparaging Muslims, George Floyd and diversity at the Oscars.

The film’s director, Jacques Audiard, has condemned those comments, but in his acceptance speech thanked Gascón along with her co-stars Saldaña and Selena Gomez.

“I am deeply proud of what we have all achieved together,” he said.

From the BAFTAs to the Oscars

Stars including Cynthia Erivo, Hugh Grant, Ariana Grande, Lupita Nyong’o, Timothée Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan walked the red carpet at London’s Royal Festival Hall for the awards, known as BAFTAs. The British prizes will be watched for clues about who will triumph at Hollywood’s Academy Awards on March 2, in an unusually hard-to-call awards season.

They also have a distinctly British accent. The ceremony kicked off with its kilt-wearing host, Scottish actor David Tennant, leading the audience in a rousing singalong of The Proclaimers’ anthem I’m Gonna be (500 Miles).

Madison won the female acting trophy for her powerhouse performance as an exotic dancer entangled with a Russian oligarch’s son in Anora. She beat Gascón, Demi Moore for body-horror film The Substance, Ronan for The Outrun, Erivo for Wicked and Marianne Jean-Baptiste for the Mike Leigh drama Hard Truths.

In her acceptance speech, Madison sent a message to the sex worker community.

“You deserve respect and human decency. I will always be a friend and an ally and I implore others to do the same,” she said.

Brody beat competition from Fiennes, Chalamet, who plays the young Dylan in A Complete Unknown, Grant for the horror film Heretic, Colman Domingo for prison drama Sing Sing and Sebastian Stan for his portrayal of a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice.

Brody, who plays a Hungarian-Jewish architect in the postwar United States, said The Brutalist had a powerful message about the need to treat others humanely.

“There’s no place any more for antisemitism. There’s no place for racism,” he said.

The Brutalist also won prizes for its cinematography and musical score.

Saldaña won for her role as a lawyer who helps the title character in Emilia Pérez transition to a woman and out of a life of crime. She called the film “the creative challenge of a lifetime.”

Culkin’s award came for A Real Pain, about odd couple cousins on a trip to explore their roots. The film’s writer and co-star, Jesse Eisenberg, took the BAFTA for best original screenplay.

“I’d like to share this with my wife, who didn’t come because she didn’t think I’d win,” Eisenberg quipped.

Animated caper Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl won awards for best animated feature and best family and children’s film.

Sci-fi epic Dune: Part Two won prizes for sound and visual effects, while blockbuster musical Wicked took the costume and production design trophies.

Rising stars and lifetime honors

Most BAFTA winners are chosen by 8,000 members of the U.K. academy of industry professionals, with one — the Rising Star Award —- selected by public vote from a shortlist of nominees. This year’s winner was David Jonsson, star of high finance TV drama series Industry and London rom-com Rye Lane.

“Star, I don’t know,” he said. “But rising, I guess.”

The prize for best British debut went to Rich Peppiatt, director of Irish-language hip-hop drama Kneecap.

Willow and Return of the Jedi actor Warwick Davis received the academy’s top honor, the BAFTA Fellowship, for his screen career and work to create a more inclusive film industry.

The 3-foot, 6-inch (1.1-meter) actor founded a talent agency for actors under 5 feet tall, because, he said, “short actors weren’t known for their talent, just their height.”

“This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me — and I’ve been in Star Wars,” Davis said as he accepted his award.

BAFTA chairwoman Sara Putt sent a message of strength to everyone hit by last month’s devastating Los Angeles wildfires. Jamie Lee Curtis, a supporting actress nominee for The Last Showgirl, was absent because the fires delayed filming on her current work.

The event was without a dash of royal glamour this year. Neither Prince William, who is honorary president of the British film academy, nor his wife Kate are attending. The awards coincide with school holidays for their three children.

William, 42, sent a video message, recorded during a visit to meet students at the London Screen Academy on Wednesday.

During the visit, the heir to the throne discussed his own viewing habits, saying he’d watched World War II drama Darkest Hour and had begun postapocalyptic TV drama The Last of Us, but found it “quite full on” and didn’t make it to the end.

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Hilary Fox contributed to this story.

Jill Lawless, The Associated Press