Rich Peppiatt, director of Kneecap, the defiant fictional biopic of the Belfast rap trio, has won outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer at the 2025 British Academy of Film and Television awards in London. At the podium the first-time director, a former journalist, argued that Kneecap “should have their homeland respected”.
After receiving six nominations here – more than they could ever have imagined after the film’s premiere at Sundance a year ago – the raucous, profane film was already strong favourite in the category. Sadly, they could convert in no other races. Saoirse Ronan, nominated as best actress for The Outrun, also failed to score.
The competition for best film proved (for once) to be a thriller, with any of three titles looking to be in with a chance right up to the last minute. Edward Berger’s Conclave, a twisty account of the voting for a new pope, took the crucial prizes for adapted screenplay, British film and – a win for Lisburn’s Nick Emerson – film editing. Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, a remarkable postwar American epic, won cinematography, score, best director and, for Adrien Brody, best actor. Sean Baker’s Anora, a hectically paced screwball comedy that has been dominating the later stages of awards season, grabbed the casting prize and, for Mikey Madison, best actress.
In the event it was Conclave, a robust old-school entertainment featuring Ralph Fiennes, Isabella Rossellini and Stanley Tucci, that snatched the Bafta mask. This is a remarkable achievement for Berger. Until very recently he was little known outside his native Germany, but he has now directed two best-film winners in three years at Bafta. In 2023 his epic adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front took the prize. Conclave and The Brutalist shared the most wins this year, with four apiece.
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“What you did to me on set when I watched you was pure magic. It was beyond my grasp or understanding,” Berger said to his cast. “I am so grateful I was able to witness it. We are deeply humbled. This is such a big, big honour.”
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Peppiatt and the band have enjoyed the irony of a film celebrating a republican trio being nominated in categories for British awards. The English-born director, who attended his own Irish-citizenship ceremony before the Irish Film and Television Academy awards on Friday, has encountered sparks of recognition throughout the globe.
“Remember, the British Empire once owned a third of the world,” he said on the red carpet. “So now, when you make a film that’s sticking a middle finger up to the Brits, don’t be surprised if a third of the world turns around and says, ‘Yeah, we’re going to go watch that.’ Right?”
Kneecap failed to secure an expected nomination for best international picture at the Oscars, but this remains an extraordinary run at awards season for a film that would have barely been on radars outside Ireland at the beginning of the year.
Brody, who plays an architect battling American capitalism in The Brutalist, was delighted to accept his best-actor award from a reliably charming Pamela Anderson. “England has felt like home recently,” said the actor, who got raves last year for his turn in the play The Fear of 13 in the West End of London. “I am so grateful. I want to thank the British public for embracing me and my creative endeavours.”
Madison’s win as best actress was a bit of a surprise. Since a victory at the Golden Globes and a fine acceptance speech, Demi Moore has looked like a strong favourite everywhere for her role in the satirical horror The Substance, but Madison, electric as an exotic dancer led astray by a young Russian moneybags, always looked the likely beneficiary should she stumble. More than 30 years Moore’s junior, she paid tribute to sex workers in her speech. “You deserve respect and human decency,” she said. “I will always be a friend and an ally, and I implore others to do the same.”
The Kneecap team lost out to Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez – overcoming a wash of controversy – in the race for best film not in the English language. The singular musical, following a Mexican drug lord going through gender-confirmation surgery, was once deemed unbeatable in this category, but it looked to have ceded some ground to fellow nominees. On the night it got past Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here, a Brazilian political drama; Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light, a beautiful Indian reverie; and Kneecap itself.
Emilia’s resilience suggests it is still competitive for, at least, the best-international-picture Oscar. Audiard noted that the award was not just for him but also “for everyone who worked tirelessly on this film; I’m so happy for all of us.” He included a mention of Karla Sofía Gascón, the film’s lead actor, despite revelations that she had, over several years, posted a stream of offensive tweets. “Also you, my dear Karla Sofía, that I kiss,” Audiard said. “I’m deeply proud of what we achieved together. Long live Emilia Pérez!”
Gascón has barely been seen since the story broke. One could, however, easily believe that controversy never happened as Zoë Saldaña, who plays a lawyer sucked into the mob in Emilia Pérez, took the stage to accept the prize for best supporting actress. “This is so validating and a true honour,” Saldaña said. “The very few times I went for a part with a British accent, the dialogue coach was, like, ‘This is not going to happen for you.’”
Nothing was getting past Conclave for best adapted screenplay. Kneecap had an outside chance for best original screenplay, but Jesse Eisenberg snuck past a hugely competitive field to take that prize for his serious comedy A Real Pain. The experienced writer, director and actor joshed that his wife didn’t come “because she didn’t think I’d win”.
Kieran Culkin’s win as best supporting actor for the same picture continues a near-unbroken run this awards season. For his role in Eisenberg’s film, as a Jewish American man returning to his ancestor’s Polish home, the Succession star has won more or less everywhere he has been nominated. Bookies now have him at an unbackable 1/10 to take the equivalent Oscar.
David Tennant returned to hosting duties at Royal Festival Hall, in London, and surely did enough to secure another invitation in 2026. After a rousing version of I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by his fellow Scots The Proclaimers, he turned to Cynthia Erivo, star of the witch flick Wicked, and remarked, “I don’t know how you do that on a broomstick!” The Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown was “Mamma Mia! for middle-aged dads”. He seems a natural at this. Sharp without being rude. Charming without being oleaginous.
So what do the Baftas tell us about the Oscars? The American and British academies share a substantial number of voters, which means one can reasonably see this ceremony as offering a predictive poll on the awards that generate the most hoopla.
But it matters what sort of films are making the running. Two years ago, when Everything Everywhere All at Once – a picture that didn’t really land in the UK – was bossing American awards shows, there was virtually no crossover in the high-profile categories. In 2024, as Oppenheimer, a film with significant British input, swept forward, the two bodies agreed on practically everything.
This year feels somewhere between those extremes. Expect much, but not total, overlap.
A month or so ago, with Emilia Pérez topping the nominations table at the Oscars and coming second to Conclave with Bafta, it looked as if that deranged musical, a hit at Cannes and with the European Film Awards, could challenge in a host of categories, including best picture. Then it emerged that Gascon had a long history of tweeting offensive opinions on race, religion and – perhaps most damaging of all – the Oscars themselves.
So now The Brutalist, Conclave, Anora and, maybe, A Complete Unknown all looked to be on an equal footing in the race for best picture. Wins, over just a few days, for Anora in the top category at Critics Choice, the Producers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America changed all that. Almost overnight it regained the front-runner status it established when it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes some nine months ago.
If anything other than Conclave had beaten Anora here, its odds for best picture would have slipped, but, as a British coproduction, the pope-picking thriller always had an advantage. Anora remains on course. Demi Moore will, however, have cause to chew a few nails after being passed out by Mikey Madison. There is still much to play for.
