70th British Academy Film Awards

The 70th British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, were held on 12 February 2017 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 2016. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, accolades were handed out for the best feature-length film and documentaries of any nationality that were screened at British cinemas in 2016.

The nominees were announced on 10 January 2017 by actor Dominic Cooper and actress Sophie Turner. La La Land received the most nominations in twelve categories; Arrival and Nocturnal Animals followed with nine each.

The ceremony was hosted by Stephen Fry for the twelfth time.

Jordan Horowitz, Best Film co-winner

Damien Chazelle, Best Direction winner

Casey Affleck, Best Actor in a Leading Role winner

Emma Stone, Best Actress in a Leading Role winner

Dev Patel, Best Actor in a Supporting Role winner

Viola Davis, Best Actress in a Supporting Role winner

Kenneth Lonergan, Best Original Screenplay winner

Luke Davies, Best Adapted Screenplay winner

Travis Knight, Best Animated Film winner

Ava DuVernay, Best Documentary co-winner

Tom Holland, Rising Star Award winner

The nominees were announced on 10 January 2017. The winners were announced on 12 February 2017.

• Mel Brooks Joanna Lumley

• Curzon

The ceremony was broadcast on BBC One at 9 p.m. UTC, around two hours later than the actual ceremony. For the 12th time, Stephen Fry acted as the host. The ceremony returned to the Royal Albert Hall for the first time since 1997, as the Royal Opera House, which has hosted the awards since 2008, was being refurbished.

Following criticism at the lack of representation of ethnic minorities from the previous ceremony, BAFTA had announced steps to increase diversity across the industry, on both sides of the camera. However, there was again criticism at the lack of representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) actors, directors and films in the nominations. In the leading actor, actress and director fields, there were no BAME nominees, with the omission of director Barry Jenkins for Moonlight and actor/director Denzel Washington for Fences highlighted as particularly noteworthy.

La La Land won the most awards at the event, winning five—Best Picture, Best Director for Damien Chazelle, Best Actress in a Leading Role for Emma Stone, Best Cinematography for Linus Sandgren, and Best Original Music for Justin Hurwitz. Casey Affleck won Best Actor in a Leading Role for Manchester by the Sea, Dev Patel won Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Lion, and Viola Davis won Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Fences.

Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason performed a solo interpretation of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" to accompany the In Memoriam section. Those remembered were Gene Wilder, Garry Marshall, Sue Gibson, Kenny Baker, Tony Dyson, Peter Shaffer, Paul Lewis, Michael White, Ken Adam, Guy Hamilton, Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher, Abbas Kiarostami, Jim Clark, Simon Relph, Douglas Slocombe, Anton Yelchin, Robin Hardy, David Rose, Curtis Hanson, Clare Wise, Om Puri, Alec McCowen, Emmanuelle Riva, Andrzej Wajda, Michael Cimino, Antony Gibbs and Sir John Hurt.

• Official website