The 78th British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Film Awards were held on Sunday, February 16, 2025, at the Royal Festival Hall in Southbank Centre, London. Audiences in North America were able to watch the show on BritBox.

For the first time, BAFTA gave an award for an outstanding Children’s and Family Film, bringing the total number of feature film awards up to 23. There are also two awards for shorts and an audience award for most admired up-and-coming performer.

Instead of simply repeating the list of award winners, we wanted to give you our overview of BAFTA 2025. Up front, we would note that it included terrific live musical performances by actor and jazz pianist Jeff Goldblum, who played the Wonderful Wizard of Oz in Jon M. Chu’s Wicked, and by pop band Take That, which contributed a new version of “Greatest Day” to the soundtrack for Sean Baker’s Anora.

Host

Scottish actor David Tennant returned to host the BAFTA awards after his first run in 2024. Tennant is known for playing such varied roles as the aristocratic television magnate Lord Tony Baddingham in Rivals, the Forbes-certified billionaire Scrooge McDuck in DuckTales, and the limitlessly wealthy timelord Doctor Who in Doctor Who.

We love Tennant, and not just because he is a total dreamboat! But we have to rib him a bit after what he said last year about an Oscar®-winning actress, the marvelous Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine, The Aviator). Tennant jested that other actresses would have “to scramble and climb over Cate Blanchett to get [their] hands on an award.” Subsequently, he admitted to being a fan.

In advance of the 2025 BAFTAs, Tennant reassured viewers, “I’m not interested in picking fights or making anyone feel in any way uncomfortable.” Fortunately, he kept his word better than a certain Scottish king, whom Tennant portrays in an exciting new release (Macbeth)!

Special Honorees

Recipients of BAFTA’s most prestigious awards were announced ahead of the ceremony.

The BAFTA Fellowship, the British Academy’s highest distinction, went to English actor Warwick Davis. Over his remarkable career, Davis has played an Ewok (Wicket in Return of the Jedi), a hapless yet heroic magician (Willow Ufgood in Willow), and the Charms Professor at a secret wizards’ school (Filius Flitwick in Harry Potter). With Peter Burroughs, Davis runs Willow Management (est. 1995), a talent agency for actors under 5’ or over 7’ tall.

The Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award went to the charity MediCinema (est. 1999). Because people with serious illnesses cannot go to the movies to forget their pain or boredom, MediCinema brings the restorative magic of the big screen to them, building and running free hospital theaters that patients can visit in rolling beds, if necessary. MediCinema was founded by Christine Hill, who was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. The current CEO, Colin Lawrence, accepted the award on MediCinema’s behalf.

Featured Films

The complete list of award nominations was released on January 15, 2025, accompanied by a press release. We’re covering the films that earned the most nominations and awards. Then, we’ll follow the fortunes of some awards season breakouts. Finally, we’ll introduce you to some intriguing but less buzzy films that surfaced in the competition for Outstanding British Film.

Most Nominated Films

In advance of the show, the frontrunner appeared to be Edward Berger’s Conclave, which received 12 nominations. It did indeed emerge victorious, winning the awards for Best Film, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, and Outstanding British Film. While Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) is German, lead actor Ralph Fiennes, scriptwriter Peter Straughan, and source-novel author Robert Harris are British.

After Conclave, the next most nominated films were Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez (11 nominations) and Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist (nine nominations). Emilia Pérez ended up winning the awards for Film Not in English and Supporting Actress (Zoe Saldaña). The Brutalist won awards for Director (Brady Corbet), Lead Actor (Adrien Brody), Original Score, and Cinematography, making it the only film to tie with Conclave for number of wins.

Awards Season Breakouts

Those keeping up with awards season news may have expected BAFTA accolades for Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance. It won Best Screenplay at Cannes in May 2024 and Best Lead Actress in a Musical/Comedy (Demi Moore) at the Golden Globes® in January 2025.

At the BAFTA awards, The Substance was a strong contender for Leading Actress, Original Screenplay, Make Up & Hair, Sound, and Director, but it won only the award for Make Up & Hair. You can learn more about this phenomenal body horror film in our Halloween 2024 indie film roundup.

Similarly, Sean Baker’s Anora appeared on people’s radar when it received the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Subsequently, it has numbered among the top six most-nominated films at the Golden Globes®, the BAFTAs, and the Oscars®.

This Cinderella story about a sex worker, from the unflinching writer-director behind Tangerine, won the BAFTA awards for Leading Actress (Mikey Madison) and Casting. While audiences nominated Mikey Madison for the Rising Star Award, they ultimately gave the prize to David Jonsonn (Industry).

We hadn’t previously heard of Rich Peppiatt’s Kneecap, but it earned a total of six BAFTA nominations, making it one of the eight most nominated films. It competed in the contest for Outstanding British Film and took home the prize for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer.

As Variety explained in an enthusiastic review, Peppiatt’s film offers a “liberally fictionalized” narrative about the real Irish-language hip hop artists Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, and JJ Ó Dochartaigh, who play themselves. United as the band Kneecap, they use their art to promote Irish independence. The film seems poised for great success – and it sounds terrific!

Outstanding British Films

We already mentioned Conclave and Kneecap, but there were eight other nominees for Outstanding British Film.  We picked three to cover because they appealed to our highly arbitrary (and thus inimitable) taste.

Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths is about the relationship between two middle-aged sisters of Caribbean descent living in London. Chantelle (Michele Austin) has a sunny personality. Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) is comically irascible yet tragically depressed. For her remarkable performance in the complex role, Jean-Baptiste earned a BAFTA nomination for Leading Actress.

Kate Winslet stars in Ellen Kuras’ docudrama Lee. After modeling for Vogue and working with famous Surrealist artists as a photographer and actress, Lee Miller (1907-1977) became a World War II correspondent, documenting atrocities of the Holocaust. Kuras’ historically-based film about the war journalist would make an interesting comparison with Alex Garland’s Civil War – which we enjoyed last year in the theater … but won’t pretend to understand!

Steve Box and Nick Park’s Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit won the BAFTA award for best British film back in 2006. This year’s award went to Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham’s Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.

In the latest Wallace & Gromit feature, the beloved Claymation heroes struggle to stop escaped thief Feathers McGraw after he reprograms an AI garden gnome to be evil. (Gee, do you think McGraw works for Big Tech?) The film won the awards for Animated Film and Children’s & Family Film, a newly added category.

That’s our overview of the BAFTA Film Awards for 2025! We hope you feel inspired to watch any of the films that you have yet to see. In case Kneecap piqued your interest, JustWatch suggests these legal streaming options.

Please join us in thanking BAFTA for putting on another amazing awards show and, more broadly, for supporting the art of cinema. Every BAFTA nomination is a high honor. Congratulations to all the filmmakers recognized this year!