Conclave and The Brutalist lead winners at 2025 BAFTA Film Awards

The Film Distributors’ Association (FDA) represents the interests of film distributors in the UK and Ireland. Its membership ranges from Hollywood studios to independent operators and is responsible for 99% of all films released theatrically in the territory.

Yesterday, the 78th BAFTA Film Awards took place at the Royal Festival Hall on London’s Southbank, hosted for the second consecutive year by actor David Tenant. British and international talent from in front of and behind the camera gathered to celebrate the very best of the past year’s film releases. Universal were the top distributor, with eight wins across The Brutalist, Anora and Wicked, whilst Black Bear took home four statues for Conclave and Netflix saw four awards between Emilia Pérez and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.

In a close run race, the most decorated films of the evening were Conclave and The Brutalist. Edward Berger’s tense political papal drama Conclave took home awards for Best Film, Best British Film, and fielded homegrown wins for Adapted Screenplay (Peter Straughan) and Editing (Nick Emerson). Epic architecture drama The Brutalist scored wins for Best Director (Brady Corbet) and Best Leading Actor (Adrien Brody), as well as statues for Home Nations’ talents in Cinematography (Lol Crawley) and Score (Daniel Blumberg).

Other winners included comedy drama Anora for Best Actress (Mikey Madison) and Casting (Sean Baker/Samantha Quan); Spanish language musical Emilia Pérez for Best Supporting Actress (Zoe Saldaña) and Film Not in the English Language; musical adaptation Wicked for Production Design (Brits Nathan Crowley/ Lee Sandales) and Costume (Paul Tazewell); Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl for Animation and Children’s & Family Film; and A Real Pain for Best Supporting Actor (Kieran Culkin) and Original Screenplay (Jesse Eisenberg).

Dune: Part Two won for Special Visual Effects and Sound, with Brits Paul Lambert/Rhys Salcombe and Gareth John among the respective ensembles taking home the awards. Outstanding British Debut went to writer/director Rich Peppiatt for Northern Irish biopic Kneecap, whilst British actor David Jonsson was awarded the EE Rising Star. The prestigious BAFTA Fellowship was presented to British actor Warwick Davis for a four decade acting career as well as his tireless off-screen advocacy for representation in the entertainment industry.

In the lead up to this year’s ceremony, Conclave led the board with 12 nominations, Emilia Perez was a close second with 11 and The Brutalist received nine nods; Anora, Dune: Part Two and Wicked all scored seven nominations apiece; A Complete Unknown and Kneecap received six nods each; whilst Nosferatu and The Substance both received five nominations. Universal were the most nominated distributor with a massive 32 nominations across six films, Netflix scored 16 nominations and Black Bear 15.

More information on this year’s awards can be found on BAFTA’s website.