Inside Charles Finch’s star-studded BAFTA party

Editor-in-Chief of A Rabbit’s Foot Charles Finch kicked off the first of his three annual ‘The Night Before…’ parties on Saturday night. After more than three decades hosting ‘The Night Before…BAFTA’ as well as the Oscar and Cannes variants, the star-studded parties have become a staple of awards season and a place of commemoration for the most glamourous and fawned-over stars in Hollywood and beyond.

Taking place this past Saturday, once again at London’s prestigious 5 Hertford Street Club, ‘The Night Before…BAFTA’ saw the best of the past year laugh, share a drink or two, and cut loose together before one of the biggest film events of the year, with Charles Finch partnering with Chanel to celebrate the British Film Awards.

Among attendees were BAFTA nominees Michelle Yeoh and Everything Everywhere All At Once co-star Ke Huy Quan, The Whale’s Brendan Fraser and Hong Chau, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever powerhouse Angela Bassett, and Austin Butler, who took home Best Actor on Sunday night for his show stopping performance as the titular character in Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis. Other high-profile guests included Jamie Foxx, Eddie Redmayne, and Danielle Deadwyler.

A Rabbit’s Foot caught up with some of the guest’s on the red carpet, where they gave their thoughts on the slate of films nominated this year and what movie-going experience resonated with them the most this year, of which it quickly became apparent that Todd Field’s TÁR was a clear favourite. Actor Taron Egerton said “When TÁR was finished I had to sit and process it for a while. What Cate Blanchett did from an acting perspective is just amazing”, while Felicity Jones said “I was blown away by it, it was completely involving — it might sound a bit naff but I was inspired.” 

Last Night in Soho director Edgar Wright was simply happy that people are going to see movies again: “Just being in a packed house again felt very profound, it’s not like I needed a reminder but watching a movie with a great crowd is such a blast.” Also championing the cinema experience was Game of Thrones and Wednesday star Gwendoline Christie: “I absolutely love this feeling we have of society starting again and being able to unite in the cinema again. It’s a very different experience to viewing at home, and I’ve really missed seeing big-scale films — great spectacles like Everything Everywhere All At Once or Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave, which I was a huge fan of.” 

For their favourite movie experiences of the past year, Roma director Alfonso Cuaron and Andor star Diego Luna both drew from older films that have recently made an impression, with Cuaron citing Akira Kurosawa’s The Idiot and Luna shouting out the Antonioni masterpiece Bicycle Thieves. Still, the air at Hertford Street was filled with excitement for the fantastic movies that graces our big and small screens over the year, and for the upcoming final leg of awards season. Now that the BAFTA’s are over, we look to Hollywood to give us our next glimpse into the world of Charles Finch, where he will be hosting ‘The Night Before…The Oscars.’ Until then, stay tuned and scroll to the bottom of the page for the full list of BAFTA winners!

Best film
All Quiet On The Western Front – WINNER!
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Tár

Best actress
Cate Blanchett – Tár – WINNER!
Viola Davis – The Woman King
Danielle Deadwyler – Till
Ana de Armas – Blonde
Emma Thompson – Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best actor
Austin Butler – Elvis – WINNER!
Colin Farrell – The Banshees of Inisherin
Brendan Fraser – The Whale
Daryl McCormack – Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
Paul Mescal – Aftersun
Bill Nighy – Living

Best adapted screenplay
Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell – All Quiet on the Western Front – WINNER!
Kazuo Ishiguro – Living
Colm Bairéad – The Quiet Girl
Rebecca Lenkiewicz – She Said
Samuel D Hunter – The Whale

Best supporting actress
Angela Bassett – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Hong Chau – The Whale
Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin – WINNER!
Dolly de Leon – Triangle of Sadness
Jamie Lee Curtis – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Carey Mulligan – She Said

Best supporting actor
Brendan Gleeson – The Banshees of Inisherin
Barry Keoghan – The Banshees of Inisherin – WINNER!
Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Eddie Redmayne – The Good Nurse
Albrecht Schuch – All Quiet on the Western Front
Micheal Ward – Empire of Light

Best film not in the English language
All Quiet on the Western Front – WINNER!
Argentina 1985
Corsage
Decision To Leave
The Quiet Girl

Best casting
Aftersun
All Quiet on the Western Front
Elvis – WINNER!
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Triangle of Sadness

Best editing
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once – WINNER!
Top Gun: Maverick

Best cinematography
All Quiet on the Western Front – WINNER!
The Batman
Elvis
Empire of Light
Top Gun: Maverick

Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer
Aftersun – Charlotte Wells (writer/director) – WINNER!
Blue Jean – Georgia Oakley (writer/director), Hélène Sifre (producer)
Electric Malady – Marie Lidén (director)
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande – Katy Brand (writer)
Rebellion – Maia Kenworthy and Elena Sánchez Bellot (directors)

Best animated film

Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinnochio – WINNER!
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Turning Red

Best original screenplay
Martin McDonagh – The Banshees of Inisherin – WINNER!
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Tony Kushner, Steven Spielberg – The Fabelmans
Todd Field – Tár
Ruben Östlund – Triangle of Sadness

Best special visual effects
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water – WINNER!
The Batman
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Top Gun: Maverick

Best documentary
All That Breathes
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Fire Of Love
Moonage Daydream
Navalny – WINNER!

Best original score
All Quiet on the Western Front – WINNER!
Babylon
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Best sound
All Quiet on the Western Front – WINNER!
Avatar: The Way of Water
Elvis
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick

Best costume design
All Quiet on the Western Front
Amsterdam
Babylon
Elvis – WINNER!
Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris

The Bafta Fellowship
Sandy Powell

Best British short film
The Ballad of Olive Morris
Bazigaga
Bus Girl
A Drifting Up
An Irish Goodbye – WINNER!

Best British short animation
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse – WINNER!
Middle Watch
Your Mountain Is Waiting

Outstanding British film
Aftersun
The Banshees of Inisherin – WINNER!
Brian and Charles
Empire of Light
Good Luck To You, Leo Grande
Living
Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical
See How They Run
The Swimmers
The Wonder

Best production design
All Quiet on the Western Front
Babylon – WINNER!
The Batman
Elvis
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

Best director
Edward Berger – All Quiet on the Western Front – WINNER!
Martin McDonagh – The Banshees of Inisherin
Park Chan-wook – Decision to Leave
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All at Once 
Todd Field – Tár
Gina Prince-Bythewood – The Woman King

Best makeup & hair
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Batman
Elvis – WINNER!
Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical
The Whale

EE Rising Star award (voted for by the public)
Aimee Lou Wood
Daryl McCormack
Emma Mackey – WINNER!
Naomi Ackie
Sheila Atim