BAFTA Awards 2025 Review

One of the most important award ceremonies in the season is the BAFTAs, as they have the most crossover voters with the Academy, and the winners are often a good indicator of who will win on Oscar night. The ceremony this year not only cemented locks in some categories but also provided some surprises, which, going into the final weeks of award season, is always a treat to have a potential race in some of the biggest categories. 

The night's big winner was Conclave, which took home four awards, including the biggest of the night, Best Picture. This added another twist to this award season: not one film has dominated the best picture race, making it a wide-open competition for the Oscars. The film beat out the other big winner of the night, The Brutalist, which took home Best Director for Brady Corbet and Best Actor for Adrien Brody. However, it was no surprise that Conclave took the main prize as it also won best British film, and BAFTA do like to award their own, but the film was always in the conversation for Best Picture and this win has helped its chances more. 

The biggest surprises of the night came with the best original screenplay category, which went to A Real Pain, which is written by its main lead and director Jesse Eisenberg, who made a few appearances on the stage when he accepted best supporting actor on his co-star Kieran Culkin's behalf. The film beat out the front runner Anora, written by its director Sean Baker, who took home the WGA, which is often the biggest indicator of who is taking home this award at the Oscars. Also, most importantly, it beat the most original screenplay of the year, The Substance, which recently was awarded the critic's choice award and following that it was then put into the conversation for best original screenplay. 

However, the biggest shock of the night was in best actress, where Mikey Madison beat front runner Demi Moore and created a race going into Oscars night. In recent weeks, with the surge of Anora potentially winning best picture, people argued that this may work in Madison's favour as she is the film, and her win has cemented her potential Oscar win in people's minds. With this category, the Screen Actors Guild Awards will be the real decider as to who will win, and they often favour the career narrative rather than an up-and-coming actress, meaning Moore would have the edge. 

Overall, the BAFTAs contributed to this turbulent award season, which has twists and turns galore and has allowed us to go into Oscars night with some of the biggest categories being wide open.