Awards Season 2025: Writers' Guild Awards (WGA) and BAFTA Film Awards Winners

This past weekend has seen more awards nonsense, so let's get down to business and discuss the latest developments. 

WRITERS' GUILD AWARDS

The Writers' Guild Awards (WGA) were given out on Saturday 15th February. The film winners were:

Original Screenplay: Anora

Adapted Screenplay: Nickel Boys

Documentary Screenplay: Jim Henson: Idea Man

Both Anora and Nickel Boys are nominated in their respective categories at the Academy Awards, so these wins could bode well for their chances at the Oscars. 

That said, due to the WGA's eligibility criteria, several other Oscar-nominated screenplays weren't eligible for WGA consideration: this includes The Brutalist, September 5, and The Substance in the Original Screenplay category, and Conclave, Emilia Pérez, and Sing Sing in Adapted Screenplay.

Personally, Conclave might win Best Adapted Screenplay. But, as we've seen over the past few weeks, Anora seems to be gaining momentum in this awards season - so a Best Original Screenplay win wouldn't be too big a surprise. 

BAFTA FILM AWARDS

On Sunday 16th February 2025, the 78th British Academy Film Awards were given out in a star-studded ceremony, hosted by David Tennant for the second time. 

Here's a full list of BAFTA winners.

Best Film: Conclave

Outstanding British Film: Conclave

Leading Actor: Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

Leading Actress: Mikey Madison (Anora)

Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

Director: Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)

Original Screenplay: A Real Pain

Adapted Screenplay: Conclave

Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director Or Producer: Rich Peppiatt (director/writer) (Kneecap)

Animated Film: Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

Documentary: Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

Film Not In The English Language: Emilia Pérez

Cinematography: The Brutalist

Costume Design: Wicked

Editing: Conclave

Make Up And Hair: The Substance

Original Score: The Brutalist

Production Design: Wicked

Sound: Dune: Part Two

Special Visual Effects: Dune: Part Two

Casting: Anora

Short Animation: Wander To Wonder

Short Film: Rock, Paper, Scissors

Children's & Family Film: Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

Rising Star: David Jonsson

Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema: MediCinema

BAFTA Fellowship: Warwick Davis

Conclave and The Brutalist were the big winners of the evening, with four BAFTAs each; Anora, Dune: Part Two, Emilia Pérez, A Real Pain, Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, and Wicked all went home with two. 

Despite multiple nominations, A Complete Unknown, Nosferatu, The Apprentice, Blitz, Gladiator II, Sing Sing, The Wild Robot, and Hard Truths all went away with nothing. 

A couple of surprises here; the big one being Conclave winning Best Picture (which I'm personally overjoyed about, as it is one of my favourite films in contention in this awards season). Sadly, I don't think this is going to be repeated at the Oscars, so I'm going to enjoy this while I can. Mikey Madison's Best Actress win has also come as a bit of a curveball (I think a lot of people were expecting Demi Moore to take it for The Substance, Madison included as her off-the-cuff acceptance speech showed!). No surprises in the supporting categories, nor in the screenplays. I'm very chuffed to see two wins for Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, although- again- I don't see this being replicated in two weeks' time.

Congratulations to all winners!

We've got another busy weekend of awards stuff next weekend, as the Independent Spirit Awards get handed out on Saturday 22nd February, and the SAG Awards are on Sunday 23rd February. 

I'll update with the winners as soon as I can after they're announced.