BRITISH ACADEMY OF FILM AND TELEVISION ARTS

(Redirected from BAFTA)

'The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)' is a British organisation that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, children's film and television, and interactive media.

Introduction

BAFTA was founded in 1947 as 'The British Film Academy', by David Lean, Alexander Korda, Carol Reed, Charles Laughton, Roger Manvell and others. In 1958, the Academy merged with 'The Guild of Television Producers and Directors' to form 'The Society of Film and Television', which eventually became The British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 1976.
BAFTA's main office is on Piccadilly in London, but it also has branches in Northern England, Scotland, Wales, New York City and Los Angeles.
The Academy's trophies are in the form of a theatrical mask designed by American sculptor Mitzi Cunliffe, which was commissioned by the Guild of Television Producers in 1955.
Since 1989, the Los Angeles branch, 'BAFTA/LA', holds its own awards ceremony each year, called the ''Britannia Awards''.

Awards presented in London

Film

The awards ceremony is televised annually on BBC One.

Television

Main articles: British Academy Television Awards

The 'British Academy Television Awards' usually take place in April or May, with craft awards having a separate ceremony slightly later in the year.
The Awards are also often referred to simply as "the BAFTAs" or, to differentiate them from the film awards, sometimes as the "BAFTA Television Awards". They have been awarded annually since 1954. The first ever Awards consisted of six categories. Until 1958, they were awarded by the Guild of Television Producers and Directors. From 1958 onwards, after the Guild had merged with the British Film Academy, the organisation was known as the Society of Film and Television Arts. In 1976, this became the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the name the organisation goes under still as of 2007.
From 1968 until 1997, the BAFTA Film and Television awards were presented in one joint ceremony known simply as the BAFTA Awards, but in order to streamline the ceremonies from 1998 onwards they were split in two. The Television Awards are usually presented in April, with a separate ceremony for the Television Craft Awards on a different date. The Craft Awards are presented for more technical areas of the industry, such as special effects, production design, or costumes.
The Awards are only open to British programmes — with the exception of the audience-voted Pioneer Award — but any cable, satellite, terrestrial or digital television stations broadcasting in the UK are eligible to submit entries, as are independent production companies who have produced programming for the channels. Individual performances, such as from actors, can either be entered by the performers themselves or by the broadcasters. The programmes being entered must have been broadcast on or between 1 January and 31 December of the year preceding the Awards ceremony (so, between 1 January and 31 December 2004 for the 2005 Awards).
The 1991 awards were controversial when ''Prime Suspect'' beat ''G.B.H.'' to win the Best Drama Serial award. In what became known as "Baftagate", four of the jurors publicly declared that they had voted for ''G.B.H. ''and demanded to see the votes, but these had been destroyed.^[1]

Children's

The British Academy Children's Film and Television Awards were established in 1995, and are presented in November.
The 2002 winner of best feature film was ''Monsters, Inc.'', which beat nominees '', ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' and ''Stuart Little 2''.
The 2003 winner was ''Whale Rider'', with subsequent episodes of ''Harry Potter'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' among the runners up.
In 2004 the boy wizard eventually stepped out of the shadows as ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'' took the award, while the Tolkien saga lost yet again. TV winners in 2004 included ''Balamory'' and ''Dick and Dom in da Bungalow''.

Video Games

BAFTA first recognised video games and other interactive media at its inaugural Interactive Entertainment Awards ceremony in 1998, ushering in the first change to its rules since the admittance of television thirty years earlier. Among the first winning games were ''GoldenEye 007'', ''Gran Turismo'' and interactive comedy ''MindGym'', sharing the spotlight with the ''BBC News Online'' website which won the news category four years running.
The event was split into the ''BAFTA Video Games Awards'' and the ''BAFTA Interactive Awards'' in 2003,^[2] and while high profile winners like ''Halo 2'' and ''Half-Life 2'' made huge headlines, the interactive division was discontinued and disappeared from BAFTA's publicity material after only two ceremonies.
In 2006 BAFTA announced their decision "to give video games equal status with film and television",^[3] and ensured that the ceremony held at London's Camden Roundhouse on October 5th was televised for the first time.^[4]
The Movies, a game ported to Mac OS X platform by Robosoft Technologies, an India-based Software Development company, on behalf of Feral Interactive, won the ''Best Video Game Simulation Award'' in 2006.

Rising Star Award

Main articles: Rising Star Award, BAFTA

This award is given on the same day as the BAFTA Film Awards. This award is to acknowledge new talents in the acting industry whether for film, television or both. The nominees are chosen by BAFTA juries regardless of the nominee's gender and nationality. The winner, however is chosen by the public. This award is to dedicate Mary Selway who was a renowned casting director and helped many new actors and actresses to fame and recognition.

Awards presented in Los Angeles

The BAFTA/LA awards ceremony, the 'Britannia Awards', started in 1989 and happens in October/November each year. There are no awards given to films or TV programmes, only to individuals.
During the first ten years only one award was given at each event, called the "Britannia Award for Excellence in Film", but since 1999 the number of awards have grown, and in 2005 they were four: "The Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film" (the original award was renamed in 2000 to honour Stanley Kubrick), "The John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Artistic Excellence in Directing" (added in 2003 in honour of John Schlesinger), "The Britannia Award for Artistic Excellence in International Entertainment", and "The Cunard Britannia Award for Lifetime Contributions to International Film". With the exception of the Stanley Kubrick and John Schlesinger awards, which are always given, both the number of awards and their titles may vary from year to year.
The 2006 recipients were:

★ Sir Sidney Poitier - (''the Cunard Britannia Award for Lifetime Contributions to International Film'')

★ Rachel Weisz - (''The Britannia Award for Artist of the Year'')

★ Anthony Minghella - (''The John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Artistic Excellence in Directing'')
The 2005 recipients were:

★ Tom Cruise - (''The Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film'')

★ Dame Elizabeth Taylor - (''The Britannia Award for Artistic Excellence in International Entertainment'')

★ Mike Newell - (''The John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Artistic Excellence in Directing'')

★ Ronald Neame - (''The Cunard Britannia Award for Lifetime Contributions to International Film'')
Previous recipients of the Britannia Awards have included Albert Broccoli, Michael Caine, Peter Ustinov, Martin Scorsese, Anthony Hopkins, Dustin Hoffman, John Travolta, Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Hugh Grant, Peter Weir, Tom Hanks, Angela Lansbury and Helen Mirren.

Scotland and Wales

BAFTA Scotland first held an award ceremony for Scottish television and film in 1997. From 1998 to 2002, BAFTA Scotland held an award ceremony focusing on new talent; the organisation resumed giving annual awards in 2005.
BAFTA Cymru has recognised creative work in television and film in Wales with an annual award since 1991.

Notes

1. Confusion becomes the Bafta prime suspect Melinda Wittstock
2. ''Multimedia's best in Bafta battle'' - BBC News announces BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Award split; 1st December 2003.
3. '' Video Games Awards become BAFTA's 'third arm''' - BAFTA official press release (pdf).
4. ''BAFTA Announces E4 / Channel 4 Coverage For The British Academy Video Games Awards'' - Games Industry Magazine.

External links

★ BAFTA official site

★ BAFTA/LA Britannia Awards site

★ BAFTA Cymru site

★ BAFTA Scotland site

★ Museum of Broadcast Communications: BAFTA

★ IMDB: BAFTA

★ The most-honored films nominated for BAFTA Best Film

★ Up to date news and reviews of BAFTA Films

This article provided by Wikipedia. To edit the contents of this article, click here for original source.

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