BAFTA presented the winners of the 2004 Orange British Academy Film Awards on Feb. 15, 2004 with THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING taking home the prize for Best Film. The fantasy epic beat out other nominees BIG FISH, COLD MOUNTAIN, LOST IN TRANSLATION and MASTER AND COMMANDER to take the top award. However, the film's director Peter Jackson, who won the Golden Globe, lost the David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction to Peter Weir (MASTER AND COMMANDER). Yet, Jackson did receive the Best Screenplay (Adapted) award along with Frances Walsh and Philippa Boyens.
It was a big night for both THE RETURN OF THE KING and MASTER AND COMMANDER, which took home four awards each. KING's addition prizes included Best Cinematography and Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects and MASTER AND COMMANDER took home Best Production Design, Best Costume Design and Best Sound. In addition, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN garnered the award for Make-Up & Hair.
On the animated side, both BELLEVILLE RENDEZ-VOUS and SPIRITED AWAY lost out to IN THIS WORLD for Best Film not in the English Language. Sue Goffe and Marc Craste's JOJO IN THE STARS won Best Short Animation, beating out Maria Manton and Chris Shepherd's DAD'S DEAD, John Cernak's DEAR SWEET EMMA, Chris Hinton's Oscar-nominated NIBBLES and Randi Yaffa, Andy Knight and Richard Rosenman's PLUMBER.
A complete list of winners and nominees can be read at http://www.bafta.org.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
