Top honor for ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’

Overtaking ‘The Shape of Water’ which won 12 nominations and 13 awards, ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ gains top honors.

Crime drama “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” captured five British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) film awards on Sunday, including best film, topping an emotionally charged ceremony that featured fashion and rhetoric in support of the fight against sexual harassment sweeping Hollywood.

The movie, chronicling a grieving mother’s campaign for justice, won for original screenplay and outstanding British film, while Frances McDormand bagged the best actress and Sam Rockwell best-supporting actor prizes.

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“The Shape of Water” — the most heavily nominated film of the night with 12 nods — came away with only three awards, including best director for Guillermo Del Toro, while “Darkest Hour” claimed two prizes, including for Gary Oldman as best actor.

With Hollywood still reeling from the fallout of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the resulting anti-sexual harassment campaigns were reflected in the mood of the evening.

“Our film is a hopeful one in lots of ways but it’s also an angry one,” Martin McDonagh, writer, and director of “Three Billboards”, said in his acceptance speech.

“And as we’ve seen this year, sometimes anger is the only way to get people to listen and to change, so we’re thrilled that BAFTA has recognized this.”

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Stars arrived at London’s Royal Albert Hall predominantly dressed in black in solidarity with the #MeToo and “Time’s Up” campaigns, mirroring other recent American red carpets including last month’s Golden Globes.

Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence, and Kristin Scott Thomas were among the stars who wore black.

British royals avoid making overtly political statements or gestures, so there was little surprise when the Duchess of Cambridge chose to wear a dark green dress, by British designer Jenny Packham, as she accompanied husband Prince William, president of BAFTA, to the ceremony.