Awards Season 2015: DGA and BAFTA Winners

Awards Season is now approaching the final straight, with one big weekend left. This weekend, however, has seen two sets of major awards handed outs.

DIRECTORS' GUILD AWARDS

The DGAs were handed out yesterday (Saturday 7th February). The film winners are:

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary: Laura Poitras (Citizenfour)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television: Lisa Cholodenko (Olive Kitteridge)

With this win, it's looking likely that Inarritu might sneak in for the Best Director Oscar, in place of the highly-fancied Richard Linklater. Both films have their merits: the sheer timescale and commitment Linklater took to get Boyhood on the screen can't be underestimated, whilst the continuous camera movements and overall style of Birdman is a technical tour de force. Both would be worthy winners.

Citizenfour also got a Best Documentary Feature nod at the Oscars, so this looks good for that.

BAFTA FILM AWARDS

Tonight (Sunday 8th February), at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the 68th British Academy Film Awards were given out in a star-studded ceremony hosted for the tenth time by Stephen Fry. Rosamund Pike, Eddie Redmayne, Edward Norton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, JK Simmons, Keira Knightley, Reese Witherspoon and Amy Adams were among some of the stars in attendance to celebrate the best in film.

Here's a full list of BAFTA winners:

Best Film: Boyhood

Outstanding British Film: The Theory Of Everything

Leading Actor: Eddie Redmayne (The Theory Of Everything)

Leading Actress: Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)

Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Director: Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

Original Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel 

Adapted Screenplay: The Theory Of Everything

Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director Or Producer: Stephen Beresford and David Livingstone (writer and producer of Pride)

Animated Film: The Lego Movie

Documentary: Citizenfour

Film Not In The English Language: Ida

Cinematography: Birdman

Costume Design: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Editing: Whiplash

Make Up And Hair: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Original Music: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Production Design: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Sound: Whiplash

Special Visual Effects: Interstellar

Short Animation: The Bigger Picture

Short Film: Boogaloo And Graham

Rising Star: Jack O'Connell

Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema: BBC Films

BAFTA Fellowship: Mike Leigh

Stephen Fry was on top form as host, with a couple of nice little jokes; I also love how embarrassed he got after being kissed by Cuba Gooding Jr! I'm overjoyed to see the writer and producer of Pride get a BAFTA, as well as The Lego Movie winning Best Animated Feature. There was a very touching tribute to the late great, Richard (Lord) Attenborough and Mike Leigh's Felllowship acceptance speech was probably the highlight of the night, thanking those who have backed his films and also those who didn't- as they would have only interefered!

The biggest winner of the night was The Grand Budapest Hotel, winning five BAFTAs with The Theory Of Everything, Boyhood and Whiplash all taking home three. Congratulations to all winners!


Awards Season will culminate in two weeks' time, on the weekend of 21st/22nd February. Both the Independent Spirit Awards and the Razzies will be handed out on Saturday 21st February with the 87th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday 22nd February.

And then we can forget about this trivial nonsense until the end of November.